0 


4  y.. 


Columbm  (Hnit^e  rsftp 

THE   LIBRARIES 


Bequest  of 

Frederic  Bancroft 

1860-1945 


«fC'    ^^ 


^/A^tAff,  0^  ^a'o.^ 


AUNT  PEGGY; 


A    M  E  M  O  I  R 


PrH.  Illargaret  gauidiioii  d^iutng, 


WIFE    OF    THE    LATE    REV.    FINIS    EWTNG. 


BY    ONE     OF    HER    SONS. 


Nashville,  Tenn.: 

Cumberland  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication, 

41  Union  Street. 

1873- 


^ 


.^ 


9  3^.:^ ' 


s 

e 


4^  ^ 


PUBLISHER'S   NOTICE. 


"Aunt  Peggy"  is  the  title  of  this  very  in- 
teresting volume,  the  second  in  the  "Bright 
Page  Library"  of  Sunday-school  books, 
which  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Publication  is  now  issuing  from  the  jH^ess. 

"W.    E.    DUNAWAY, 

Publishing  A(jeni. 
Nashville,  Teiin.,  1873. 

(3) 


PREFACE. 


This  little  book  will  partake  more  of 
the  character  of  memoir  than  of  biog- 
raphy, and  will  be  largely  deficient  in 
both. 

There  was  nothing  in  the  unpretend- 
ing career  of  Mrs.  Ewing  to  afford 
very  abundant  material  for  biography. 
Her  life  and  labors  were  so  interwoven 
with  the  events  of  the  early  history  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church 
that  it  was  found  impossible  to  separ- 


6  PREFACE. 

ate  them,  and  the  author  has  availed 
himself  of  the  latitude  thus  afforded 
to  incorporate  in  the  work  many  mat- 
ters that  may  not,  at  first  glance,  seem 
germane  to  the  main  object.  A  sketch 
of  the  men  who  became  the  first  and 
leading  preachers  of  the  Church  in  Mis- 
souri could  not  be  omitted  without  leav- 
ing many  large  blanks  in  the  picture 
the  author  has  attempted  to  draw. 

As  there  was  no  thought  by  Mrs. 
Ewing  in  her  life-time,  or  by  any  of 
her  family,  that  a  biography  would  be 
attempted,  there  was  no  effort  made 
to  collect  and  preserve  the  material  for 
such  a  work;  consequently  the  writer 
was  compelled  to  confine  himself  to 
his  own  personal  recollections  of  the 


PREFACE.  7 

deceased,  and  these  do  not  extend 
over  a  long  and  eventful  period  of  her 
life. 

Justice  to  the  subject  and  to  the  au- 
thor both  require  the  statement  of  an- 
other flict :  that  book-making  has  never 
been  the  business  of  the  writer  —  his 
pursuits  in  life  have  not  tended  to 
qualify  him  for  literary .  labor,  and 
especially  that  of  writing  for  the 
press. 

If,  however,  one  single  person,  by 
this  unpretending  volume,  shall  be 
brought  to  think  better  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  on  account  of  its  develop- 
ment in  the  life  of  Mrs.  Ewing,  then 
the  author  will  be  fully  compensated 
for  the  work  he  has  done. 


8  PREFACE. 

It  may  be  proper  to  add  farther, 
that  this  manuscript  was  written  in  the 
midst  of  exacting  and  laborious  official 
duties.  The  Author. 


AUNT  PEGGY, 


CHAPTER     I 


'HE  subject  of  this  brief  little 
notice  was  born  in  the  State 
of  North  Carolina,  January  23, 
1774.  She  was  the  youngest 
daughter,  and  the  youngest  member  of 
the  family,  except  one. 

The  names  persons  receive  at  their 
baptism  are  very  often  lost  sight  of,  and 
others,  bearing  no  relation  to  the  orig- 
inals, substituted  in  their  places.  Mar- 
garet is  an  ancient  name,  and  is  derived 
from  a  Greek  word  signifying  a  pearl. 

(9) 


10  AUNT    PEGGY. 

One  can  very  well  imagine  how  such  a 
name  should  be  first  introduced.  A 
fond  mother,  contemplating  the  budding 
beauties  and  unfolding  loveliness  of  a 
first-born  daughter,  would  very  natu- 
rally esteem  the  child  a  pearl  of  rare 
value,  and,  accordingly,  so  name  her. 
It  is  also  common  for  names  to  be  ab- 
breviated in  early  childhood,  especially 
if  it  can  be  done  so  as  to  make  a  pet 
name,  and  thus  carry  with  it  an  expres- 
sion of  greater  endearment.  But  how 
Margaret  ever  became  "Peggy"  is  more 
than  I  can  now  explain.  It  may  suffice 
upon  this  point  to  say  that  Mrs.  Ewing 
was  called  Peggy  in  early  life,  and  in 
her  old  age  was  universally  called  "Aunt 
Peggy."  Hence  the  title  of  this  little 
book.  I  have  chosen,  therefore,  to  pre- 
serve the  name  by  which  she  was  known 


AUNT    PEGGY.  11 

best  among  all  those  who  loved  her  most 
and  esteemed  her  highest. 

So  little  is  known  of  the  early  life  of 
Mrs.  Ewing,  that  we  will  not  attempt  to 
say  any  thing  about  it,  farther  than  to 
remark  that  her  earliest  recollections 
Avere  of  the  terrible  w^ar  that  ravaged 
the  portion  of  the  country  in  which 
her  family  resided,  and  of  the  part  her 
father  took  in  that  struggle  on  the  side 
of  the  colonies.  She  remembered  dis- 
tinctly the  sad  day  on  which  was  brought 
the  tidings  of  his  death*.  It  will  appear 
in  the  course  of  this  narrative,  as  a  sin- 
gular coincidence,  that  she  should  have 
lived  through  all  the  great  wars  that 
have  afflicted  this  country,  including  the 
terrible  civil  strife  that  desolated  the 
State  and  county  where  she  resided; 
and    in   every   instance   the   war   was 


12  AUNT    PEGGY. 

brought  home  to  her  by  the  active  par- 
ticipation therein  of  some  member  of 
her  family.  The  fact  has  no  signifi- 
cance, farther  than  its  being  a  remark- 
able thing  in  the  history  of  one  life,  es- 
pecially when  nearly  a  century  of  time 
was  comprehended  within  that  period. 

All  that  is  known  of  her  early  life — 
her  marriage,  and  conversion  to  Christ, 
and  connection  with  the  Church — is  to 
be  found  in  Dr.  Cossitt's  "Life  and 
Times  of  Rev.  Finis  Ewing;"  and,  as 
that  part  of  Mrs.  Ewing's  history  is  so 
much  better  stated  by  this  author  than 
I  could  do  it,  I  propose  to  make  liberal 
extracts  from  the  work  referred  to.  I 
therefore  commence  with  the  following : 

"  On  the  15th  day  of  January,  1793, 
Finis  Ewing  w^as  united  in  matrimony 
with  Peggy,  daughter  of  Gen.  William 


AUNT    PEGGY.  13 

Davidson,  formerly  of  North  Carolina, 
deceased.  In  honor  of  this  patriot  of 
the  American  revolution,  and  in  memory 
of  his  gallant  services  and  lamented 
death  during  the  darkest  period  of  that 
eventful  contest,  the  county  first  organ- 
ized in  the  Cumberland  country  received 
the  name  of  Davidson.  Nashville,  its 
seat  of  justice,  afterward  became,  and 
continues  to  be,  the  capital  of  the  State 
of  Tennessee.  The  widow  and  family 
of  the  deceased  general  had  removed 
from  North  Carolina  and  settled  in  this 
vicinity.  The  husband  and  father  had 
distinguished  himself  in  his  native  State 
among  the  earliest  opposers  of  British 
oppression,  had  served  his  country  in 
various  w\ays  during  her  struggle  for 
liberty,  and  was  killed  in  battle,  on  the 
Catawba  River,  wdiile  opposing  the  ad- 


14  AUNT    PEGGY. 

Vance  of  the  British  army  under  Lord 
Cornwallis. 

"  The  death  of  Gen.  Davidson  was  uni- 
versally lamented,  especially  in  North 
Carolina,  where  his  public  and  private 
virtues  were  so  well  known  and  highly 
appreciated.  This  action,  and  the  loss 
of  the  brave  general,  was  not  without 
its  value  to  the  cause  of  American  free- 
dom: the  army  under  Cornwallis  was 
therebv  held  in  sufficient  check  to  enable 
Morgan,  with  his  whole  force,  to  retire 
untouched  to  Salisbury.  To  avoid  a 
general  action,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
annoy  and  weaken  the  enemy  as  much 
as  possible,  was  the  present  policy  of 
the  Americans. 

"  Davidson  was  a  Christian  as  well  as 
a  patriot.  His  name  is  enrolled  on  the 
list  of  martyrs  to  American  liberty,  and 


AUNT    PEGGY.  15 

patriotism  awards  to  his  memory  the 
tribute  of  tears  of  gratitude.  The  Con- 
tinental Congress  passed  an  order  for 
the  erection  of  a  monument  to  the  mem- 
ory of  this  brave  and  good  man;  but 
owing  to  the  embarrassment  of  the  na- 
tional finances,  the  order  was  not  car- 
ried into  effect  at  the  time,  and  it  was 
neglected  until  the  Hon.  Mr.  Graham, 
late  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  candi- 
date for  Vice-President  (a  connection 
of  Gen.  Davidson),  became  a  member 
of  the  United  States  Senate  from  North 
Carolina.  Through  the  influence  of  this 
gentleman  the  order  was  revived,  and 
the  original  appropriation  renewed  for 
the  erection  of  the  monument. 

"At  the  time  of  their  marriage,  Mr. 
Ewing  was  in  his  twenty -first  year,  and 
Miss  Davidson  in  her  nineteenth  year. 


16  AUNT    PEGGY. 

This  young  lady  was  distinguished  among 
her  acquaintances  for  her  beauty  of  per- 
son, strength  of  intellect,  and  amiability 
of  character.  This  is  according  to  the 
recollection  of  several  persons  now  liv- 
ing ;  and  the  impression  of  her  virtues 
is  so  strong  on  the  minds  of  some  that 
they  become  animated  and  eloquent  in 
their  description.  Rev.  Samuel  McSpad- 
den  distinctly  remembers  her,  and  unites 
in  the  general  voice  of  commendation. 
He  speaks  of  the  good  opinion  enter- 
tained of  her  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Brooks, 
though  he  was  never  married,  and  was 
no  great  admirer  of  the  sex  generally. 

"  This  union  was  approved  by  the 
families  on  both  sides,  and  acquaint- 
ances generally  augured  a  bright  future 
for  the  wedded  pair. 

"At  the  time  of  their  marriage,  neither 


AUNT    PEGGY.  17 

Mr.  Ewing  nor  his  wife  knew  any 
thing  of  experimental  religion.  Both 
were  doubtless  amiable,  strictly  moral, 
and  inclined  to  be  religious  in  their 
way;  but  having  never  heard  any  thing 
from  their  spiritual  guides  on  the  sub- 
ject of  an  experience  of  grace,  they  knew 
not  that  a  change  of  heart  was  necessary 
to  salvation.  They  had  long  attended 
on  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Craighead,  and 
had  frequently  listened  to  the  sermons 
of  other  Presbyterian  ministers,  but 
never  heard  the  doctrine  of  regenera- 
tion inculcated  or  explained. 

"  The  truth  is,  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  at  the  time  and  in  that  region,  is 
acknowledged  to  have  been  in  a  lament- 
ably lukewarm  and  almost  lifeless  state : 
its  ministers  were  formal  and  cold ;  and 
but  few  of  its  members,  as  it  afterward 
2 


18  AUNT    PEGGY. 

became  manifest,  knew  any  thing  of 
experimental  religion.  Much  was  heard 
from  the  pulpit  about  the  'elect  of  God/ 
but  little  or  nothing  about  '  born  of  the 
Spirit.'  With  regard  to  the  character 
of  Presbyterian  preaching  in  the  coun- 
try, at  the  time,  the  report  is  almost 
universal  that  its  tendency  was  to  a 
dry,  speculative  orthodoxy,  leaving  the 
heart  without  interest  and  the  conscience 
without  alarm. 

"  Ewing  and  his  wife  were  now  the 
united  head  of  a  family.  They  esteemed 
it  their  duty  to  make  the  God  of  their 
fathers  their  trust  and  portion,  to  honor 
him  in  all  things,  and  to  walk  in  the 
way  of  righteousness.  Uninformed  as 
they  were  with  regard  to  the  essentials 
of  Christian  character,  they  seem  to  have 
been  desirous  of  doing  their  duty,  so  far 


AUNT    PEGGY.  19 

as  it  had  been  made  known  to  tliem. 
They  had  certain  ideas  of  their  respon- 
sibility to  their  Heavenly  Father,  their 
duty  to  domestics,  and  the  importance 
of  ordering  their  household  in  a  man- 
ner well-pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God. 

"They  seem  to  have  looked  upon  the 
preaching  of  the  word  and  the  privi- 
leges of  the  Church  as  means  of  grace, 
-which,  in  some  indefinable  way,  were 
to  work  for  their  benefit,  prepare  them 
for  the  wiser  discharge  of  duty,  and 
secure  the  favor  of  God.  Therefore, 
without  any  suspicion  of  their  natural 
depravity  or  the  necessit}^  of  regenera- 
tion, without  any  conception  of  the 
grace  of  God  as  it  is  offered  in  the 
gospel,  farther  than  certain  confused 
notions  of  foreordination  and  election 
which    they   had   learned    from    their 


20  AUNT    PEGGY. 

spiritual  teachers,  they  concluded  to 
join  the  Church.  They  were  led  to 
believe  themselves  entitled  to  this  priv- 
ilege. 

"They  were  the  children  of  Presby- 
terian parents ;  and  their  preposses- 
sions were  altogether  in  favor  of  that 
Church.  Accordingly  they  applied  and 
were  received  without  farther  ceremony 
as  regular  members  of  Dr.  Craighead's 
Church.  Here  they  dedicated  their 
first-born  in  the  ordinance  of  baptism." 

By  way  of  farther  illustrating  the 
character  of  Presbyterian  preaching  and 
the  general  religious  teachings  of  that 
denomination  at  the  time  referred  to,  I 
quote  farther  from  Dr.  Cossitt  the  tes- 
timony of  the  Rev.  Samuel  McSpad- 
den,  as  follows: 

"I  sat  under  Dr.  Craighead's  preach- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  21 

ing  for  fourteen  or  fifteen  years,  and 
never  heard  him  advance  any  thing  in 
favor  of  the  new  birth,  evangelical  re- 
pentance, or  saving  faith,  though  his 
character  for  orthodoxy  at  the  time, 
and  for  many  years  afterward,  was  un- 
doubted. His  sermons  appeared  not  to 
have  the  slightest  tendency  to  alarm 
the  conscience  of  his  hearers,  or  to 
render  them  dissatisfied  with  them- 
selves. On  the  contrary,  his  preach- 
ing seemed  calculated  to  quiet  the  fears 
of  the  people,  and  to  keep  them  from 
being  disturbed  about  their  soul's  salva- 
tion." 

And  such  is  the  general  testimony, 
not  only  as  to  this  preacher,  but  nearly 
all  others  of  that  denomination  during 
the  period  referred  to. 

"We  have  seen  that  Mr.  Ewing  and 


22  AUNT    PEGGY. 

his  wife  had  joined  Dr.  Craighead's 
Church,  maintaining  an  upright  and  ex- 
emplary deportment.  They  were  anx- 
ious to  do  their  duty  so  ffir  as  they  un- 
derstood it.  The  work  of  the  Spirit 
was  wholly  unknown  to  them.  They 
had  received  from  their  spiritual  guides 
certain  indefinable  notions  of  predesti- 
nation, election,  and  effectual  calling. 

"  Nothing,  however,  had  been  incul- 
cated on  the  doctrine  of  fliith  beyond 
a  mere  belief  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  God.  This  they  had  been 
taught  by  their  parents  from  their  ear- 
liest years;  this  they  never  doubted; 
and  now,  as  members  of  the  Church,  as 
parents,  expecting  to  dedicate  their 
children  in  baptism,  and  especially  as 
persons  giving  diligence  to  make  their 
calling  and  election  sure,  it  is  not  sur- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  23 

prising  that  they  embraced  this  senti- 
ment as  the  foundation  of  their  hopes. 
Thus  they  continued  satisfied  with  their 
condition,  except  as  an  occasional  diffi- 
culty or  passing  doubt  was  suggested 
from  reading  the  Scriptures,  until  their 
removal  from  Tennessee  to  Kentucky. 

"They  settled  in  Logan  county,  near 
the  town  of  Russellville,  and  near  to 
the  Red  River  Meeting-house.  The 
congregation  which  worshiped  at  this 
church  was  under  the  pastoral  care  of 
Rev.  James  McGready,  and  afterward 
became  famous  as  the  initial  point  of 
the  great  revival  of  1800." 

Mr.  McGready  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  his  day.  As  the 
original  and  most  efficient  promoter  of 
that  great  religious  awakening  above 
mentioned,   he   will  always   occupy   a 


24  AUNT    PEGGY. 

conspicuous  place  in  the  religious  his- 
tory of  that  period.  His  biography 
has  been  written,  and  sketches  of  his 
life  by  different  authors  have  fre- 
quently appeared  in  the  religious  litera- 
ture of  this  country.  It  will,  there- 
fore, suffice  to  say  but  a  single  word 
about  him  in  this  connection. 

Mr.  McGready's  great  forte  and  spe- 
cial mission  seemed  to  be  to  unsettle 
the  foundations  of  those  who  had  built 
upon  the  sand,  to  disturb  the  peace  of 
those  who  had  no  adequate  grounds  for 
their  security,  to  awaken  those  who 
were  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins,  to 
arouse  to  a  sense  of  their  danger  those 
who  were  sleeping  on  the  very  verge 
of  ruin,  and  to  point  out  with  inimita- 
ble precision  and  directness  the  way  of 
escape.     The  testimony  is  also  that  he 


AUNT    PEGGY.  25 

was  a  very  earnest  man,  that  he  had 
great  faith  m  the  promises  of  the  gos- 
pel, and  could  successfully  infuse  that 
spirit  into  the  minds  of  his  Church; 
that  under  his  tremendous  preaching 
the  leaden  dullness  and  the  icy  cold- 
ness, that  lay  as  a  fatal  incubus  upon 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church,  was 
broken  up,  and  a  new  era  in  the  his- 
tory of  Christianity  on  this  continent 
was  inaugurated  through  the  revival  of 
1800. 

The  results  to  the  general  Church  of 
Christ  in  this  country,  and  to  the  good 
of  mankind  generally,  that  legitimately 
follow  from  that  great  religious  awak- 
ening, cannot  be  comprehended  by  fin- 
ite minds,  and  will  only  be  known  fully 
in  the  last  great  day. 

In  illustration  of  the  character  of  this 


26  AUNT    PEGGY. 

truly  great  maiij  I  quote  from  Dr.  Cos- 
sitt : 

"  From  the  testimony  of  thousands, 
it  would  appear  that  few  men  of  any 
age  have  excelled  him  in  power  of 
description,  whether  his  theme  w^as  the 
joys  of  the  righteous  or  the  torments 
of  the  wicked.  Rev.  Wm.  Barnett  says 
he  would  so  describe  heaven  that  you 
could  almost  see  its  glories,  and  long  to 
be  there ;  and  he  would  so  array  hell 
and  its  horrors  before  the  wicked  that 
they  would  tremble  and  quake,  imagin- 
ing a  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone  yawning 
to  overwhelm  them,  and  the  wrath  of 
God  thrusting  them  down  the  horrible 
abyss.  His  genius,  however,  was  better 
suited  to  the  sublime  than  the  beauti- 
ful, to  the  dreadful  than  the  enrap- 
turing.   His  method  was  heart-searching 


AUNT    PEGGY.  27 

and  soul-stirring,  powerful  to  detect  the 
hypocrite  and  alarm  the  formalist,  to 
sweep  away  sandy  foundations,  to  cause 
men  to  build  anew  on  the  rock  Christ 
Jesus. 

"  The  sermons  of  Mr.  McGready  soon 
awakened  in  the  minds  of  both  Mr. 
Ewing  and  his  wife  new  thoughts  and 
anxieties  with  regard  to  their  spiritual 
condition.  They  heard  nothing  to  which 
their  minds  could  remain  indifferent,  or 
over  which  their  consciences  could  slum- 
ber. The  whole  system  of  religion 
seemed  to  be  presented  to  their  view 
in  an  unusual  form  and  invested  with  a 
different  character;  but  whether  their 
past  or  their  present  instructions  were 
the  more  scriptural  and  worthy  of  their 
regard,  was  a  question  they  wxre  not  pre- 
pared to  decide.     It  was  an  absorbing 


28  AUNT    PEGGY. 

question,  however,  which  occupied  their 
thoughts  and  investigations  during  their 
waking  hours.  The  soul's  concerns  and 
the  mind's  exercises  were  not  with  them, 
as  with  too  many  professors  of  religion 
at  that  time,  prohibited  subjects.  They 
had  been  taught  that  saving  faith  con- 
sisted in  the  belief  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Son  of  God ;  but  their  present  pas- 
tor made  a  clear  distinction  'between 
a  mere  historical  and  a  true  saving 
faith.'  When  doctors  differ,  what  shall 
the  learners  do  ?  The  subject  appeared 
intricate  and  full  of  mystery :  it  con- 
flicted with  all  their  previous  instruc- 
tions and  settled  opinions ;  and  to  their 
grief  and  consternation,  it  struck  at  the 
very  foundation  of  their  hopes.  Know- 
ing that  God  desired  'truth  in  the  in- 
Avard  parts/  and  praying  that  he  might 


AUNT    PEGGY.  29 

^make  them  to  know  wisdom/  long  and 
carefully  did  they  investigate  this  sub- 
ject. 

"  But  this  state  of  things  did  not  last 
long.  After  a  few  days,  as  Mr.  Ewing 
was  returning  from  the  grove  where  he 
had  been  praying  for  the  conversion  of 
one  so  dear  to  his  affections  as  his  wife, 
she  met  him,  her  countenance  beaming 
with  joy  and  her  heart  glowing  with 
love  to  God.  She,  too,  had  found  a 
kneeling  place,  where  her  Saviour  had 
deigned  to  meet  her  and  speak  pardon 
and  peace  to  her  soul.  Now  the  love 
of  Christ,  which  passeth  knowledge,  had 
come  to  that  house ;  and  the  peace  of 
God,  which  passeth  all  understanding, 
was  to  keep  those  hearts  and  minds 
through  Jesus  Christ." 


30  AUNT    PEGGY. 


CHAPTER    II. 

■^j\  URING  the  period  commencing 
with  the  time  of  Mr.  Ewin«'s 
entering  the  ministry,  down  to 
the  removal  of  the  family  from 
Kentucky  to  Missouri,  but  little  is  known 
of  the  personal  history  of  Mrs.  Ewing. 
Her  life  was  so  much  a  part  and  parcel 
of  that  of  her  husband  during  the  event- 
ful years  referred  to,  that  we  could 
say  but  little  of  the  wife  that  did  not 
embrace  the  history  of  the  husband.  It 
covered  the  period  that  formed  the  crisis 
in  the  life  of  Mr.  Ewing,  and  the  sub- 
sequent years  of  unabated  toil,  and  care, 
and  anxiety  for  the  little  organization 


AUNT    PEGGY.  31 

that  had  been  set  up,  having  for  its  foun- 
dations (as  they  supposed)  the  eternal 
truths  of  the  gospel,  and  for  its  hopes 
the  promises  extended  only  to  those 
who  are  faithful  to  the  end.  Whether 
should  it  live  to  bless  the  world,  or  die 
with  odium  upon  its  authors,  was  the  sol- 
emn and  weighty  question  for  years  to- 
gether. How  deeply  this  matter  affected 
the  subject  of  this  notice  can  never  be 
fully  known. 

In  consequence  of  the  position  of  her 
husband,  how  her  life  became  one  of 
toil,  care,  and  anxiety,  can  be  very 
easily  seen.  How  well  she  acted  her 
part  in  this  trying  period  can  only  be 
conjectured  from  her  subsequent  his- 
tory. But  as  the  years  advanced,  the 
little  Church  grew  apace,  the  hopes  of 
its   founders    increased,    and   the   load 


32  AUNT     PEGGY. 

began  to  lift  from  their  shoulders  to 
a  degree.  A  large  family  of  children 
came  to  the  household ;  and  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  cares  that  appertained 
to  their  situation,  we  introduce  another 
extract  from  Dr.  Cossitt  upon  the  domes- 
tic relations  of  this  family : 

"Mrs.  Ewing  was  a  woman  of  sound 
judgment,  general  intelligence,  and  ar- 
dent piety.  Her  fondness  for  reading, 
for  cultivated  society,  and  the  ever- 
instructive  conversation  of  her  husband 
had  stored  her  mind  with  an  amount  of 
useful  information  which  few  of  her  age 
and  sex  around  her  had  the  good  fortune 
to  acquire.  In  the  absence  of  her  hus- 
band, her  time  was  divided  between 
domestic  cares  and  religious  reading. 
Her  skill  in  farming,  managing  servants, 
and  arranging  her  household  concerns, 


AUNT    PEGGY.  33 

accomplished  her  as  the  help-meet  of  a 
man  whose  whole  time  was  devoted  to 
the  service  of  God  and  the  Church ;  and 
when  her  husband  could  come  home  for 
a  day  or  a  night,  whether  he  came  alone 
or  brought  little  or  much  company  with 
him  (as  frequently  happened),  her  joy- 
ful recognition,  cordial  welcome,  and 
afflible  manners,  added  a  peculiar  charm 
to  the  hospitality  which  she  delighted 
to  afford.  She  was  never  unprepared, 
never  taken  by  surprise,  but  always 
ready,  and  rejoiced  to  entertain  the 
servants  and  followers  of  the  Lord.  In 
short,  Mrs.  Ewing  had  a  true  woman's 
tact  always  to  please  her  husband,  ex- 
cite the  admiration  of  his  friends,  and 
make  every  one  comfortable  and  happy 
around  her.  As  if  by  intuition,  she 
anticipated  and  provided  for  the  wants 
3 


34  AUNT    PEGGY. 

of  all  who  favored  her  -with  their  com- 
pany. 

"  The  husband  and  wife  were  always 
communicative,  always  free  in  the  inter- 
change of  their  thoughts  with  each  other; 
whatever  interested  the  one  could  be  no 
secret  to  the  other.  The  husband  was 
accustomed  to  breathe  forth  to  his  wife 
all  his  thoughts  and  feelings,  his  doubts 
and  fears,  his  prospects  and  discourage- 
ments, his  joys  and  sorrows ;  and  her 
soul  of  sympathy  made  them  all  her 
own.  His  interests,  friends,  religious 
sentiments,  Church  relations,  and  plans 
for  glorifying  God,  were  all  hers  by 
adoption,  and  she  could  have  none  be- 
sides. When  he  began  to  be  impressed 
to  preach  the  gospel,  she  not  only  ac- 
quiesced, but  encouraged.  When  he 
was  appointed  to  a  circuit,  she  said,  ^Go 


AUNT    PEGGY.  35 

where  duty  calls.'  When  his  labors 
were  blessed,  she  rejoiced  exceedingly. 
When  he  was  persecuted  and  slandered, 
while  she  sorrowed  and  sympathized 
with  him,  she  could  rejoice  even  that 
he  was  accounted  worthy  to  suffer  for 
Christ's  sake.  When  he  became  the 
acknowledged  spiritual  father  of  hun- 
dreds, she  regarded  them  all  as  dear 
children  begotten  in  the  gospel.  When 
he  and  others  refused  submission  to  the 
illegal  demands  of  the  Commission  of 
Kentucky  Synod,  she  said,  ^  Never  sac- 
rifice principle,  even  for  peace.'  When 
he  and  others  considered  it  their  duty, 
regardless  of  prohibitions,  to  supply  the 
destitute,  she  said,  ^Obey  God  rather 
than  man.'  When  he  and  all  other 
friends  of  this  great  awakening  (the 
great  revival  of  1800)  saw  the  neces- 


36  AUNT    PEGGY. 

sity  of  constituting  an  independent  Pres- 
bytery in  order  to  promote  the  gracious 
work  and  protect  its  fruits,  she  resolved 
to  become  a  nursing  mother  to  the  in- 
fant Church  to  be  born  in  this  revival 
of  God's  work  and  baptized  in  the  tears 
of  his  devoted  worshipers.  Well  and 
faithfully  has  she  fulfilled  her  deter- 
mination. She  has  been  permitted  to 
live  long  enough  to  see  that  infant, 
growing  in  fixvor  with  God  and  man, 
arrive  at  a  strength  and  maturity  which 
have  already  accomplished  great  things, 
and  promise  still  greater,  with  the  bless- 
ings of  God  upon  her  and  his  glory  in 
her  midst. 

"  The  heart  that  dictates  these  lines 
is  fully  assured,  from  the  character  and 
sentiments  of  this  venerable  lady,  that 
if  she  still  lingers  upon  earth,  though 


AUNT     PEGGY. 


37 


in  full  view  of  heaven,  she  prays  with- 
out ceasing  for  God's  blessing  ever  to 
rest  upon  the  Church  with  which  she 
has  so  long  sympathized,  sacrificed,  and 
suiTered." 


38  AUNT    PEGGY. 


CHAPTER   III. 

^^]@|rERELY  a  glimpse  of  the  life 
UM'  of  our  subject  up  to  the  time 
of  the  removal  of  the  family 
from  Kentucky  to  Missouri,  in 
the  year  1820,  is  furnished  by  the 
foregoing.  And  this  glimpse  is  all  that 
can  now  be  reproduced  of  the  life  and 
labors  of  Mrs.  Ewing  down  to  the  time 
indicated. 

The  reasons  which  led  to  this  change 
of  residence  are  detailed  in  the  Life  of 
Mr.  Ewing,  and  do  not  enter  into  the 
scope  of  this  work. 

As  has  been  intimated  already,  noth- 
ing whatever  has  been  preserved  for 


AUNT    PEGGY.  39 

this  memoir.  What  follows  will  be '  de- 
m^ed  chiefly  from  the  personal  recollec- 
tions of  the  author.  Mrs.  Ewing  never 
dreamed  that  her  uneventful  life  Avould 
be  written  and  published,  and  hence  no 
effort  w\as  ever  made  to  preserve  any 
material  for  it.  It  was  the  aiime  case 
with  her  husband.  I  know  of  my  own 
knowledge  that  he  was  called  on  many 
times  in  his  life -time  to  prepare  the 
data  for  the  early  history  of  the  Church 
and  his  own  biography;  but  such  was 
his  repugnance  to  the  task,  that  he 
never  complied  with  the  request  of  his 
friends,  chiefly  because  he  Avas  himself 
an  important  figure  in  that  history. 

The  truth  of  history  would  have 
been  greatly  subserved,  if  he  had  done 
as  he  was  so  often  requested  to  do. 

When  the  family  first  reached  Mis- 


40  AUNT    PEGGY. 

sonri,  they  settled  for  awhile  at  the 
then  village  of  Boonville,  located  on 
the  Missouri  River,  in  Cooper  county, 
and  about  the  geographical  center  of 
the  State.  Intending  to  take  his  fam- 
ily to  a  farm,  Mr.  Ewing  prepared 
his  residence  near  to  the  place  now 
known  as  New  Lebanon,  in  the  same 
county. 

The  name  of  Lebanon  seemed  to 
have  peculiar  attractions  for  Mr.  Ew- 
ing. The  congregation  near  his  old 
home  in  Kentucky  was  called  Lebanon; 
and  after  a  congregation  near  his  new 
home  in  the  West  was  organized,  it 
was  called  New  Lebanon,  and  by  this 
name  it  is  still  known,  as  also  that  of 
the  Presbytery  within  whose  bounds  it 
is  located. 
.  The  residence  of  the  family  was  very 


AUNT    PEGGY.  41 

r 

beautifully  situated  in  an  arm  of  tim- 
ber that  stretched  out  into  the  prairie 
to  the  north,  from  the  main  forest  on 
the  south. 

It  was  a  delightful  place.  It  was 
such  a  home  as  one  could  love  and  re- 
member always. 

In  a  few  years  a  large,  two-story, 
brick  house  superseded  the  original  log- 
cabins;  a  very  extensive  and  well-ar- 
ranged farm  was  laid  out  in  the  prairie 
adjoining;  fine  barns  and  other  outbuild- 
ings were  erected;  the  great  orchard  in 
the  rear,  and  the  garden  at  the  south, 
were  all  features  about  the  premises 
that  I  can  never  forget.  Across  a  lit- 
tle span  of  prairie  -  land,  just  in  the 
edge  of  another  grove,  and  not  far  from 
a  famous  spring  of  water,  the  church- 
house  was  located.      The  camp-ground 


42  AUNT    PEGGY. 

was  laid  out  in  a  square  to  the  rear  of 
the  church. 

I  am  thus  particular  in  the  description 
of  this  locality  because  a  thousand  de- 
lightful reminiscences  of  my  own  early 
life  cluster  about  the  dear  old  place ;  but 
chiefly  because  it  has  become  historical 
ground  to  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church — historical  in  this,  that  a  num- 
ber of  the  early  and  able  ministers  of 
the  Church  were  brought  into  the  min- 
istry here,  and  were  instructed  in  the- 
ology and  prepared  for  their  work  by 
Mr.  Ewing  while  he  resided  at  this 
place.  These  men  made  an  important 
history  in  our  denomination,  and  it  will 
soon  be  written  and  sent  out  to  the 
world. 

A  large  number  of  the  members  of 
the  old  Lebanon  and  other  contiguous 


AUNT    PEGGY.  43 

congregations  in  Kentucky  had  re- 
moved to  this  neighborhood,  and,  of 
course,  connected  themselves  with  the 
congregation  of  New  Lebanon.  In 
a  few  years  this  was  a  flourishing 
Church. 

I  remember  the  names  of  very  many 
of  the  old  members  who  were  always 
seen  in  their  places  on  the  Sabbath. 
They  have  all  gone  down  to  the  grave 
long  since,  yet  they  live  in  the  mem- 
ory of  a  large  and  highly  respectable 
posterity,  many  of  whom  have  become 
ornaments  in  the  Church  and  valuable 
citizens  of  the  State.  I  recall  with 
pleasure  the  names  of  Kirkpatrick, 
Sloan,  John  and  James  Wear,  Benj. 
Rubey,  Burnes,  McCorkle,  Bryant,  and 
others.  These  were  the  early  pioneers 
of  the  country  and  the  Church.     They 


44  AUNTPEGGY. 

bore  an  honorable  testimony  to  the  doc- 
trines and  usaires  of  the  infant  Church 
with  which  they  identified  their  spir- 
itual welfare,  and  they  illustrated  the 
power  of  their  faith  in  the  happy  death 
that  is  recorded  of  them  all.  If  a 
man's  faith  stands  this  test,  then  it  is 
worth  every  thing  to  him.  Its  value 
is  beyond  all  price,  and  no  considera- 
tions of  Church  aggrandizement  and 
social  position  can  compensate  any  one 
for  its  loss. 

Some  of  them  w^ere  men  of  more 
than  ordinary  influence  in  their  Church 
relations.  I  call  to  mind,  in  this  con- 
nection especially,  old  Uncle  Robert 
Kirkpatrick — everybody  called  him  un- 
cle. He  lived  very  near  to  the  church, 
and  was  one  of  the  first  elders  in  the 
congregation.      He  was  a  hale,  hearty 


AUNT    PEGGY.  45 

old  man  within  my  first  recollection. 
He  was  a  very  fine  singer,  as  men 
were  adjudged  in  that  day — had  a  rich, 
full,  melodious  voice,  that  would  not 
only  fill  the  old  church-house,  but 
would  roll  out  in  erreat  volumes  throuo'h 
the  open  doors  and  w^indows  and  wake 
the  slumbering  echoes  among  those 
grand  old  trees  for  a  great  distance 
around. 

I  have  sat  in  the  door  at  home  and 
heard  the  music  at  the  church  many  a 
time,  and  the  distance  was  nearly  half 
a  mile.  But  it  was  on  camp-meeting 
occasions  when  this  master  of  song 
would  exhibit  himself  in  all  his  strength 
and  glory. 

On  a  calm  summer  evening,  when 
the  large  congregation  Avould  be  quietly 
seated   in   the   shadows   of    the   great 


46  AUNT    PEGGY. 

forest,  and  the  first  tune  would  be 
raised  by  old  Father  Kirkpatrick,  his 
voice  would  ring  out  on  the  air  like  the 
mellow  notes  of  a  silver  trumpet.  The 
gi'een  arches  above  would  reecho  the 
sound,  and  the  whole  camp-ground  be- 
come vocal  with  melody. 

Dear,  good  old  man!  long  ago  has 
thy  music  been  turned  to  higher  themes 
and  thy  voice  to  a  higher  praise  on 
the  beautiful  shore  beyond  the  dark 
river ! 

It  was  a  part  of  the  regular  duty  of 
Mr.  Kirkpatrick  to  li7ie  out,  and  sing 
the  hymn  for  the  pastor,  preliminary 
to  the  preaching  service.  His  accus- 
tomed seat  was  in  front  of  the  pulpit; 
and  after  the  first  reading  of  the  hymn 
by  the  minister,  he  would  rise  to  his 
feet,  line  out  the  hymn,  and  raise  the 


AUNT    PEGGY.  47 

tune  and  lead  the  singing  of  the  whole 
congregation. 

In  those  early  days  there  were  no 
books  to,  distribute  among  the  people  as 
is  now  the  custom.  How  ffir  Church- 
music  has  been  improved  thereby,  I 
do  n't  pretend  to  say.  My  recollection 
is  that,  when  the  whole  congregation 
joined  to  follow  the  old  elder,  the 
music  was  very  grand,  according  to  my 
conception.  It  was  apparently  easy 
to  follow  a  good  leader;  they  sang 
with  the  spirit,  and  made  music  for  the 
Church,  and  melody  in  their  hearts. 

Another  feature  of  Church -services 
in  those  early  days  has  long  since  dis- 
appeared. The  services  at  any  one 
given  church  Avere  not  very  frequent. 
The  supply  of  ministers  did  not  afford 
preaching  oftener  than  once  in  two  or 


48.  AUNT    PEGGY. 

three  weeks  to  the  same  congrega- 
tion. 

Coming  to  church,  then,  once  in  two 
or  four  weeks,  the  people  thought  it  no 
hardship  to  listen  to  a  sermon  one  or 
two  hours  long,  and  to  an  exhortation 
immediately  afterward. 

The  exhorter  at  Lebanon  was  old 
Uncle  Jimmy  Wear.  He  lived  in  the 
near  neighborhood,  and  generally  was 
without'  a  special  charge  of  his  own. 
lie  was  not  learned  or  great  in  any 
sense  of  the  terms,  but  was  humble 
and  pious  in  the  best  sense  of  those 
terms.  He  usually  sat  in  the  pulpit 
with  the  pastor,  and,  after  the  sermon, 
closed  the  meeting  with  a  zealous  and 
fervent  exhortation.  Frequently  he 
would  use  the  expression  that  "  he  had 
been  greatly  refreshed"  during  the  ser- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  49 

inon  which  had  preceded,  but  it  was  al- 
ways an  unsettled  question  among  the 
"boys,"  who  were  present,  whether  he 
had  been  refreshed  by  the  long,  sound 
nap  he  had  taken,  or  by  the  truths  of 
the  sermon  which  had  been  delivered, 
for  it  was  one  of  his  weaknesses  to 
sleep  ivell  during  the  service.  No  one 
who  knew  him,  however,  but  enter- 
tained for  him  the  highest  respect  on 
account  of  his  earnest  piety  and  un- 
pretending walk  in  life.  Peace  to  his 
ashes ! 

After  all,  it  is  the  humble  Christian 
who  reflects  most  the  true  spirit  of 
genuine  Christianity.  It  is  he  who  re- 
flects most  faithfully  the  light  of  that 
inner  life  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit, 
and  which  derives  vitality  from  the 
breathing  of  Christ  upon  the  naturally 
4 


50  AUNT    PEGGY. 

dormant  heart.  Not  so  extended  in  his 
influence  and  usefulness,  perhaps,  as  his 
more  brilliant  and  gifted  neighbor;  but 
he  lives  in  a  serener  atmosphere,  is  su-r- 
rounded  with  a  balmier  influence,  and  is 
altogether  a  happier  Christian  than  the 
other,  because  his  condition  is  not  dis- 
turbed by  rude  contact  with  the  world 
and  wicked  men.  He  lives  more  apart 
from  evil  influences,  and  hence  his  path- 
way lies  over  even  and  sunny  grounds. 
For  many  years  after  the  early  pio- 
neers to  this  State  (Missouri)  had  made 
their  homes  in  the  wilderness,  there 
were  but  few  church-houses  erected; 
the  people  w^ere  widely  scattered  in 
their  settlements,  and  the  camp-meeting 
then  was  a  necessity.  That  such  meet- 
ings have  been  a  thousand  times  honored 
by  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  there 


A  U  N  T    P  E  G  G  Y.  51 

can  be  no  manner  of  doubt ;  and  that 
they  have  been  the  means  of  bringing 
to  Christ  thousands  of  unconverted  per- 
sons, is  equally  true.  I  contemplate 
with  regret  the  abandonment  by  our 
people  of  the  camp-meeting.  It  is  true 
that  in  thickly-settled  neighborhoods, 
where  commodious  church-edifices  have 
been  erected,  the  services  of  the  house 
of  God  may  be  adequately  maintained 
without  the  pitching  of  tents  in  the 
consecrated  grove;  but  the  abounding 
influences  that  surround  and  overawe 
the  people  while  worshiping  God  in  his 
own  great  temples  are  utterly  lost  in 
the  painted  and  bedizened  church-house. 
There  is  an  invisible  spirit  that  is  felt 
in  the  sighing  breeze,  that  is  heard  in 
the  rustling  leaves,  that  is  seen  in  the 
beautiful  architecture  of  the  green  arches 


52  AUNT    PEGGY. 

above  their  heads,  that  will  make  itself 
felt  and  obeyed  by  the  people  on  these 
occasions,  when  even  the  message  of 
salvation,  promulgated  from  the  pulpit, 
will  fail  to  do  so.  The  influence  of 
such  surroundings  as  these  on  the  spir- 
itual nature  of  men  is  illustrated  in  the 
practice  of  many  heathen  peoples,  who 
worship  their  deities  in  sacred  groves, 
and  who  build  their  shrines  under  the 
shadows  of  the  great  trees. 

A  camp-meeting  of  four  or  five  days' 
continuance  nearly  always  resulted  in  a 
revival  of  religion  and  in  the  conversion 
of  many  precious  souls.  Now,  a  pro- 
tracted meeting  in  a  church-house  will 
require  weeks  of  labor  before  any  sen- 
sible impression  is  produced.  Of  course 
it  will  not  be  understood  that  I  depre- 
ciate the  value,  and  even  necessity,  of 


A  U  N  T    P  E  G  G  Y.  63 

meeting-houses  in  every  congregation. 
The  camp  -  meeting  is  held  annually, 
whereas  the  congregational  meetings 
should  he  held  every  Sunday.  I  make 
the  point  here  merely  to  show  that 
change  is  not  always  improvement — 
that  old  landmarks  should  not  be  too 
hastily  erased,  and  that  some  old  ways 
may  be  the  best  ways  after  all. 

As  for  myself,  I  can  bear  this  testi- 
mony: that  I  have  heard  the  gospel 
preached  under  every  variety  of  cir- 
cumstances— ia  the  rude  log- cabin,  in 
the  plain,  unpretending  church,  in  the 
splendid  churches  of  the  large  cities, 
and  in  the  grand  old  cathedrals  that 
have  pointed  their  spires  to  heaven  for 
two  hundred  years ;  and  yet  the  mes- 
sage of  salvation  never  fell  upon  my 
ears  w-ith  such  solemn  fervor,  with  such 


54  A  U  N  T    P  E  G  G  Y. 

powerful  force,  and  Avith  such  winning 
persuasiveness,  as  it  has  under  the  leafy 
boAvers  that  Avere  woven  by  the  vines 
and  branches  of  those  old  monarchs  of 
the  forest,  that  had  been  stretching  out 
their  arms  to  the  storms  of  a  hundred 
vears. 

To  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  the  camp-meeting  should  be 
a  sacred  institution.  It  is  interwoven 
with  her  history  from  the  day  of  her 
birth  doAvn  to  the  present  moment; 
and  for  all  coming  time  the  history  of 
camp-meetings  in  the  Mississippi  Valley 
will  lie  at  the  foundation  of  her  own 
history,  whatever  that  may  be. 

It  is  in  this  connection  that  I  pro- 
pose to  bring  out  a  striking  trait  of 
Mrs.  E  wing's  character.  Camp -meet- 
ings always  involved   a  great  deal  of 


A  U  N  T     P  E  G  G  Y.  55 

care  and  labor  to  the  heads  of  families 
who  moved  on  to  the  ground  and  made 
that  their  place  of  abode  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  meeting.  The  people 
came  from  far  and  near,  and  had  to  be 
entertained,  boarded,  and  lodged.  I 
have  seen  scores  of  persons  accommo- 
dated at  the  same  meal  at  the  camps  of 
^^  Uncle  Finis  and  Aunt  Peggy."  As 
long  as  there  was  a  hungry  stranger 
on  the  ground,  their  ample  board  was 
spread,  and  a  free  invitation  given  to 
all  comers. 

Also  the  care  of  a  large  family  and 
numerous  colored  servants  entered  into 
the  list  of  her  labors  ;  but  when  the  sil- 
very horn  sounded  the  note  to  assemble 
for  public  worship,  she  was  always  in 
her  place.  No  combination  of  circum- 
stances could  so  conspire  as  to  prevent 


66  AUNT    PEGGY. 

her  from  participating  in  the  feast  of 
fat  things  that  was  always  provided  in 
the  house  of  God's  people.  That  was 
the  recognized  source  of  all  her  strength 
and  capacity  to  work  for  the  people  at 
the  camp,  and  for  the  promotion  of 
God's  cause  at  the  altar. 

A  long  period  of  training  in  the  ac- 
tive duties  of  life  had  qualified  her  for 
every  emergency.  The  wife  of  a  min- 
ister whose  duties  call  him  a  great 
deal  from  home  must  bring  herself 
up  to  a  double  capacity  for  business, 
or  sink  supinely  under  the  burden. 
With  a  fine  physical  organization  and 
uniform  good  health  at  that  period 
of  her  life,  she  exhibited  a  wonderful 
fitness  and  capacity  for  the  onerous  du- 
ties of  her  position.  She  was  always 
found   equal   to  the  occasion,  however 


AUNT    PEGGY.  57 

exacting  and  trying  it  might  prove 
to  be. 

With  an  industry  that  never  faltered, 
and  a  vigilance  that  rarely  slumbered, 
she  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  her  way, 
first  in  the  government  of  her  large 
household,  and  next  in  the  punctual  dis- 
charge of  all  her  public  religious  duties. 
She  had  an  abiding  abhorrence  of  a  lazy 
person.  I  have  often  heard  her  say  that 
she  could  not  comprehend  how  a  sloth- 
ful, indolent  person  could  be  a  good 
Christian. 

Another  leading  feature  in  the  char- 
acter of  Mrs.  Ewing  was  her  cordial 
and  unaffected  hospitality.  During  the 
whole  period  that  the  family  resided 
at  Lebanon,  there  were  no  villages,  or 
towns,  or  country  taverns,  within  a  ra- 
dius of  many  miles  from  her  homestead. 


58  AUNTPEGGY. 

People  traveling  through  the  country 
on  business  or  for  pleasure  must  look 
to  the  private  hospitality  of  the  inhab- 
itants for  food  and  shelter.  Mr.  Ewing 
being  well  known  throughout  the  State, 
and  his  independent  circumstances  being 
w^ell  understood,  it  followed  almost  as  a 
matter  of  course  that  every  friend  or 
stranger  wdio  passed  through  the  coun- 
try called  at  his  house.  The  dwelling 
occupied  by  the  family  was  large  and 
commodious,  the  barns  were  spacious 
and  well  filled,  and  the  mistress  of  the 
mansion  always  at  home  if  the  master 
was  not;  so  that  the  place  became  a  sort 
of  free  hotel — everybody  was  welcome, 
and  was  entertained  comfortably  and 
pleasantly  without  charge.  Every  pos- 
sible character  of  guest,  almost,  was  an 
occasional   recipient  of  its  hospitality. 


AUNTPEGGY.  59 

The  preacher  always  found  it  a  pleasant 
home,  and  was  not  slow  to  enter  its 
open  doors.  The  poor  emigrant,  just 
arrived  from  a  distant  State  in  search 
of  a  new  home,  was  equally  welcome. 
The  politicians  of  the  State  occasion- 
ally paid  the  family  a  visit.  I  have 
seen  United  States  senators,  governors, 
congressmen,  judges,  and  other  public 
characters,  the  recipients  of  its  bounty; 
and  all,  of  every  class,  were  met  at  the 
threshold  by  a  simple,  unostentatious, 
easy,  and  natural  politeness  that  made 
every  one  feel  at  home  at  once. 

But  the  great  point  I  wish  to  make 
in  this  connection  consists  in  the  fact 
that  the  house  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ewing, 
for  very  many  years — not  at  Lebanon 
only,  but  wherever  they  lived — was  the 
home  of  the  young  Cumberland  Pres- 


60  AUNTPEGGY. 

byterian  preacher.  I  feel  safe  in  as- 
serting that  no  one  ftimily  in  the  bounds 
of  the  whole  Church  has  contributed 
more,  in  this  way,  to  bring  forward  the 
young  candidate  for  the  ministry. 

Free  board  and  free  instruction  were 
cheerfully  tendered  to  all  who  desired 
such  assistance.  Very  many  accepted 
gratefully  the  kind  offer  who  afterward 
became  an  honor  to  the  Church  and  a 
blessing  to  the  country.  Some  of  them, 
indeed,  were  towers  of  strength  to  the 
struggling  cause  which  they  had  es- 
poused. 

The  practice  of  taking  young  preach- 
ers into  the  family  was  continued  until 
the  death  of  Mr.  Ewing.  The  additional 
labor  which  this  enlargement  of  the  do- 
mestic circle  imposed  on  Mrs.  Ewing 
was  very  great.     Her  own  large  family 


AUNTPEaGY.  61 

and  numerous  servants  to  see  after,  with 
a  constant  influx  of  visitors,  would  seem 
to  have  been  enough  for  the  mistress  of 
the  household  ;  but  so  long  had  she  been 
accustomed  to  the  duty  of  self-sacrifice, 
that  I  never  heard  her  murmur  under 
such  trying  circumstances,  except  per- 
haps once,  when  the  school-teacher  was 
added  to  her  already  numerous  house- 
hold. She  really  thought  that  this  gen- 
tleman, important  character  as  he  was, 
might  find  a  home  elsewhere. 

The  value  of  the  labor  performed  by 
Mrs.  Ewing  in  this  department  of  her 
daily  duties  cannot  well  be  estimated. 
A  pleasant  home,  with  motherly  care 
and  attention,  encouraging  advice,  with 
valuable  instruction,  was  simply  the 
making  of  many  a  timid  man,  who,  if 
left  to  himself,  would  have  sunk  down, 


62  AUNTPEGGY. 

a  miserable  failure.  A  man  coming  for- 
ward under  these  circumstances,  who 
reaches  eminence  in  his  calling,  and  who 
makes  his  mark  m  his  day,  and  leaves  a 
broad  and  deep  impress  upon  the  Church 
and  the  community,  is  a  contribution  to 
Christianity  beyond  all  price. 

I  have  never  on  a  single  occasion 
heard  Mrs.  Ewing  take  any  praise  to 
herself  for  this  part  of  her  Christian 
work.  She  always  seemed  to  regard  it 
as  a  simple  duty,  growing  out  of  her 
position  in  the  Church.  If  she  ever  felt 
her  lot  to  be  a  hard  one,  or  that  her 
Christian  duties  were  at  all  burdensome, 
she  was  never  heard  to  complain.  She 
accepted  cheerfully  the  situation,  and 
set  about  her  multifarious  duties  with 
resolute  purpose  to  do  faithfully  what- 
ever might  lie  in  her  pathway. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  63 

Very  often,  and  sometimes  for  long 
periods,  Mr.  Ewing  would  be  absent 
from  home.  He  made  several  trips  back 
to  Kentucky  after  he  came  to  Missouri. 
These  journeys  were  generally  made  to 
attend  the  Church  judicatures — Synod 
and  General  Assembly.  The  usual  dis- 
tance to  his  destination  was  about  five 
hundred  miles,  and  the  journey  always 
made  on  horseback.  (Some  preachers 
can't  get  to  Synod  at  all  notv  unless  they 
can  go  on  a  railroad.)  During  these 
times,  the  care  of  the  w^hole  household 
— children,  servants,  young  preachers, 
and  travelers — devolved  on  the  hands 
of  Mrs.  Ewing ;  but  there  was  no  diffi- 
culty anywhere.  Servants  w^ere  respect- 
ful and  obedient,  and  children  the  same 
as  at  other  times.  Every  one  tacitly 
promoted  the  mistress  of  the  household 


64  AUNT    PEGGY. 

to  the  place  and  authority  of  the  master. 
Firmness  and  decision,  intelligently  dis- 
played, combined  with  gentleness  and 
love,  will  govern  well  any  household. 
The  practice  of  family  prayers  was  kept 
up  by  Mrs.  Ewing,  in  the  absence  of 
her  husband,  uniformly.  And  thus  the 
days  of  her  life  were  filled  up.  When 
the  Sabbath  came  around,  it  was  indeed 
a  day  of  rest.  The  old  custom  of  pre- 
paring for  the  Sabbath  prevailed  then, 
and  but  little  work  was  tolerated  when 
the  day  arrived. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  65 


CHAPTEH   IV. 

^^s>N  this  connection,  I  do  myself 

^JH   the  pleasure  to  recall  the  names 
g^/H)0    of  some  of  that  noble  band  of 

^  ministers  who  first  introduced 
our  cause  into  this  State  (Missouri), 
and  who  came  up  to  Lebanon,  from 
time  to  time,  to  attend  the  judicatures 
of  the  Church,  or  to  pay  their  respects 
to  "Uncle  Finis  and  Aunt  Peggy." 

Let  us  call  the  roll  and  see  who  mav 
answer;  and  if  not,  wherefore. 

Rev.    R.   D.   Morrow  was   the   first 

CumberJ^nd  Presbyterian  preacher  who 

came   to  Missouri  in  the  character  of 

missionary.     I  have  been  under  the  im- 

5 


66  AUNT    PEGGY. 

pression  that  he  was  the  first  minister 
of  the  denomination  who  came  to  the 
State,  but  I  believe  it  is  true  that  Rev. 
G.  P.  Rice  preached  in  St.  Louis  as 
early  as  1817.  Mr.  MorroAV  came  in 
the  spring  of  1819.  It  is  also  proba- 
ble that  Rev.  Daniel  Buie  was  in  the 
State  when  Mr.  Morrow  arrived. 

I  have  just  read  the  address,  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  Ewing,  to  the  few  and 
scattered  members  of  the  Church  in  this 
then  Territory.  It  announced  the  com- 
ing of  the  missionary,  who,  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  sent  to  this  country 
under  the  auspices  of  a  ladies'  Mission- 
ary Society  organized  in  Southern  Ken- 
tucky the  year  previous  to  his  arrival 
in  this  country.  I  do  not  propose,  in 
this  connection,  any  thing  farther  than 
a  mere  allusion  to  the  character  of  the 


AUNT    PEGGY.  67 

ministers  whose  names  I  shall  mention 
— simply  the  impressions  that  a  boy 
would  receive  upon  a  first  acquaint- 
ance. 

The  mere  mention  of  Mr.  Morrow's 
name  calls  up  a  thousand  interesting 
reminiscences  of  the  early  days  of 
Cumberland  Presbyterianism  in  Mis- 
souri. In  his  person,  he  was  low  of 
stature,  but  symmetrical  and  well  knit 
together.  The  most  striking  features 
about  the  man.  were  his  massive  head 
and  his  noble  brow,  and  deep-set  eye. 
It  was  such  a  head  as  we  have  seen 
m  the  likenesses  of  great  statesmen, 
judges,  and  others  of  commanding  in- 
fluence. His  mind  w^as  well  disci- 
plined, and  was  adequate  to  the  most 
intricate  analysis.  He  was  a  born  logi- 
cian and  metaphysician.     His  style  in 


68  AUNT    PEGGY. 

the  pulpit  was  a  clear  statement  of  his 
points,  a  logical  discussion  of  the  doc- 
trine involved,  and  a  powerful,  practical 
application  to  his  audience.  He  an- 
swers not  to  our  call,  but  has  gone  to 
meet  his  brethren  in  a  court  that  sits 
within  the  gates  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem. 

H.  R.  Smith  answers  not,  for  he  has 
but  recently  transferred  his  member- 
ship to  the  general  Church  which  holds 
its  meetings  hard  by  the  throne  of  its 
great  Head.  Mr.  Smith  was  far  above 
the  average  preacher  of  his  day.  He 
was  not  a  young  man  of  brilliant  prom- 
ise, but  his  laborious  industry  and  un- 
conquerable perseverance  in  his  prepa- 
ration for  his  work  made  him  the  best 
educated  preacher  among  the  old  men 
in  the  State.     His  manner  in  the  pul- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  69 

pit  was  exceedingly  dignified,  his  ar- 
guments as  clear  as  the  sunshine,  and 
his  voice  soft,  yet  full  of  strength  and 
power.  He  lived  and  died  with  the 
harness  on.  No  man  of  the  denomina- 
tion in  this  State  has  more  deeply  im- 
pressed his  character  upon  the  Churches 
with  whom  he  labored  than  did  Mr. 
Smith.  The  young  men  whom  he 
trained  for  the  ministry  were  among 
the  best  workers  and  best  preachers 
we  ever  had  in  the  country. 

Mr.  Smith  was  modest  and  unpre- 
tending in  his  manners,  yet  possessed 
of  a  lion-like  courage,  when  occasion 
demanded  its  exhibition.  His  life  will 
be  written,  and  will  be  preserved  as  a 
sacred  legacy  to  the  Church  in  all 
time. 

Robert  Sloan,  several  years  ago,  as  a 


70  AUNT    PEGGY. 

ripe  shock,  was  gathered  into  the  heav- 
enly garner.  His  family  resided  in 
the  near  neighborhood  of  Lebanon,  and 
Mr.  Sloan  was  brought  into  the  minis- 
try there. 

The  leading  characteristics  of  the 
man  were  his  unaffected  humility,  his 
singleness  of  purpose,  and  his  great  ear- 
nestness in  the  prosecution  of  his  min- 
isterial work.  His  mission  was  to 
preach  to  the  Church,  but  upon  occa- 
sion I  have  heard  him  address  himself 
* 

to  the  unconverted  with  wonderful 
force  and  energy.  He  lived  to  a  good 
old  age,  performed  a  great  deal  of 
work,  and  did  it  well.  He  died  as  he 
had  lived,  full  of  the  faith  which  he 
professed  and  recommended  to  others. 
He  answers  not  to  our  call. 

Caleb  Weedin  spent  several  years  of 


AUNT    PEGGY.  71 

his  early  ministry  in  Missouri.  I  have 
seen  him  at  Lebanon  often  when  he 
Avas  a  young  man;  but  he  removed  to 
Kentucky,  and  spent  the  maturer  years 
of  his  ministry  in  that  State.  He  was 
a  tall,  spare,  dignified  man  in  his  ap- 
pearance, but  the  writer  has  no  distinct 
recollection  of  his  style  of  preaching. 
He  acquired  a  fine  reputation  in  central 
Kentucky,  and  was  largely  useful  in 
his  day.  He  died  several  years  ago, 
and  answers  not. 

David  M.  Kirkpatrick  was  a  son  of 
the  old  elder  of  whom  I  have  already 
spoken.  No  one  among  the  early 
preachers  who  came  into  the  ministry 
at  Lebanon  gave  more  promise  of  use- 
fulness, and,  indeed,  eminence  in  his 
profession  than  Mr.  Kirkpatrick.  His 
person    was    remarkably   fine  —  large, 


72  AUNTPEGGY. 

handsome,  and  dignified.  He  inherited 
his  fiither's  splendid  voice,  and,  when 
preaching  in  the  open  air,  his  ckirion 
notes  would  be  heard  far  and  near,  like 
the  sound  of  a  bugle  call.  His  early 
and  untimely  death  was  a  great  calam- 
ity to  the  young  Church  in  Missouri. 
From  this  new  country  he  was  the  first 
minister  to  pioneer  the  way  to  that 
better  land,  whence  there  is  no  emigra- 
tion or  departure. 

Daniel  Buie  was  a  member  of  the 
first  Presbytery  ever  held  in  Missouri. 
I  remember  him  at  Lebanon  in  the 
early  days,  and  have  heard  him  preach 
a  few  times.  His  usefulness  in  the 
ministry  was  cut  short  by  a  most  dis- 
tressing and  incurable  malady  which 
came  upon  him  in  the  maturity  of  his 
years.     He  has  gone  up  to  that  coun- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  73 

try  where  no  cloud  ever  comes  upon 
the  intellect  and  no  darkness  ever  en- 
shrouds the  heart. 

F.  M.  Braly  resided  in  south  -  east 
Missouri,  within  wdiat  afterward  be- 
came St.  Louis  Presbytery.  He  was 
among  the  young  men  whom  I  fre- 
quently saw  at  Lebanon.  He  was  a 
man  of  very  smooth  and  winning  man- 
ners— easy,  pohte,  and  dignified — with 
a  handsome  face  and  a  merry,  twinkling 
black  eye.  While  he  did  not  rank 
among  the  ablest  of  the  young  men,  he 
was  yet  a  very  fine  preacher,  accept- 
able and  popular  wherever  he  lived. 
His  life  was  above  reproach,  and  his  ex- 
ample alwaj^s  good.  He  lived  to  a  rea- 
sonably old  age,  and  left  a  good  name 
and  a  fair  fame  behind  him.  He  also 
answers  not,  because  he  has  gone  up  to 


74  AUNT    PEGGY. 

that  General  Assembly  which  sits  in 
perpetual  session. 

Archie  McCorkle  lived  for  many 
years  in  the  near  neighborhood  of  Leb- 
anon. He  came  into  the  ministry  con- 
temporaneously with  those  of  whom 
mention  has  been  made.  He  w^as  a 
very  zealous  preacher,  and  with  abili- 
ties above  the  average.  His  style  was 
sometimes  remarkable  for  its  power. 
His  general  attainments,  and  especially 
his  historical  and  miscellaneous  reading, 
w^ere  very  good,  and  I  have  heard  him 
frequently  draw  upon  such  resources 
with  excellent  effect.  He  preached  for 
some  time  in  the  town  of  Boonville 
and  at  Jefferson  City.  But  in  the  de- 
cline of  life,  his  health  failed,  and  he 
removed  to  Texas,  w^iere  he  died  not 
long  since  at  an  advanced  age.     Some 


AUNT    PEGGY.  75 

of  his  friends  predicted  a  failure  when 
he  entered  the  ministry,  but  he  disap- 
pointed them  most  happily.  He  was  a 
good  and  useful  man,  and  he  now  has 
his  reward  along  with  his  early  com- 
peers in  the  ministry. 

Laird  Burnes  was  also  one  of  the 
early  ministers  of  the  neighborhood. 
He  was  a  man  of  respectable  abilities, 
but  had  not  energy  and  industry  enough 
to  accomplish  any  considerable  results 
in  his  profession.  He  was  very  amia- 
ble in  his  intercourse  with  men,  and 
upright  in  his  Christian  character.  I 
have  no  information  of  the  later  years 
of  his  life. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  James 
L.  Wear.  He  lived  to  a  great  age, 
beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.  His 
great    consistency    of    character    com- 


76  AUNT    PEGGY. 

nianded  an  extensive  influence  in  the 
community  where  he  lived.  He  was 
not  great,  but  he  was  better  than  great 
— he  w^as  genuinely  good. 

Thus  the  roll-call  of  the  departed  is 
closed.  Half  a  score  of  them  answer 
not.  One  by  one,  they  dropped  out  of 
the  list  till  all  are  gone.  Their  theo- 
logical instructor  and  spiritual  leader 
preceded  most  of  them  to  their  final 
home.  They  have  all  met  for  a  camp- 
meeting  on  the  heavenly  plains,  hard 
by  that  pure  river  of  life  that  flows 
forever  from  the  foot  of  the  throne. 
They  have  already  answered  to  a  roll- 
call  in  Presbytery  that  holds  its  sessions 
in  a  house  not  made  with  hands.  They 
have  convened  in  a  Synod  where  Christ 
is  perpetual  Moderator,  and  where  the 
saints  from  all  the  Church  of  God  on 


AUNT    PEGGY.  77 

earth  are  the  members.  They  are  all 
members  of  that  General  Assembly 
which  will  never  adjourn.  But  not 
only  is  this  little  band  of  preachers 
found  there,  but  thousands  to  whom 
they  broke  the  bread  of  life  in  this 
world  have  joined  them,  and  the  sub- 
ject of  this  memoir  will  be  found 
among  the  number.  What  a  grand  ju- 
bilee it  was  when  they  all  met  under 
the  cedars  of  the  Lebanon  that  lies 
beyond  the  stars! 

But  I  continue  the  roll-call  of  those 
who  may  yet  answer. 

Robert  Renick  answers  that  he  is 
still  on  the  hither  bank  of  the  dark, 
cold  river,  and  that  his  confidence  in 
the  power  of  the  gospel  he  has  preached 
for  half  a  century,  is  strong  and  un- 
shaken.    He  is  one  of  the  "old  guard" 


78  AUNT    PEGGY. 

still  clad  in  full  armor,  and  as  ready  for 
the  fray  as  when  but  thirty  summers 
had  passed  over  his  rugged  brow. 

John  B.  Morrow  answers  with  feeble 
voice,  but  it  utters  no  uncertain  sound. 
Treading  close  upon  the  margin  of  the 
cold  river,  there  is  no  recoil  in  his 
steps,  nor  dread  in  his  onward  move- 
ment. Confident  and  buoyant  as  in 
the  spring-time  of  life,  he  knows  in 
whom  he  has  trusted.  His  work  is 
now  practically  finished,  and,  when  the 
records  of  his  life  shall  be  opened  and 
read,  it  will  be  found  to  have  been 
a  great  work. 

Henry  Renick  answers  with  clarion 
voice  from  the  plains  of  Texas.  He  is 
still  on  the  walls,  in  the  midst  of  his 
life's  work,  hale  and  vigorous,  striking 
hard  blows  against  the  common  enemy 


AUNT    PEGGY.  79 

of  onr  race.  His  great  powers  are  still 
unimpaired,  and  his  burning  zeal  un- 
quenched.  How  well  I  remember,  af- 
ter the  lapse  of  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
the  bugle  call  of  that  wonderful  voice, 
which  is  still  clear,  and  ringing  as  the 
morning  bell! 

J.  W.  Campbell,  "the  old  man  elo- 
quent," still  answers  for  his  Master 
whenever  called.  For  fifty  years  he 
has  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ  to 
his  fellow-men.  But  the  other  day  he 
filled  the  pulpit  in  the  church  where  I 
worship.  His  tall  and  manly  form  is 
as  stout  and  vigorous  as  a  man  of 
thirty.  His  eagle  eye  needs  no  arti- 
ficial aid  to  read  the  sacred  pages,  and 
his  voice  is  as  mellow  as  the  notes  of 
a  flute.  What  a  great  record  has  he 
already  made !     Fifty  years  in  the  con- 


80  AUNT    PEGGY. 

stant  and  faithful  work  of  the  ministry, 
with  the  fruits  of  his  labors  to  be  found 
all  over  the  country ! 

John  T.  A.  Henderson  still  answers 
promptly  and  decisively.  His  work 
has  been  upon  a  somewhat  different 
line  from  that  of  most  of  his  compeers. 
After  a  few  years  of  experience  as 
circuit-preacher,  he  devoted  himself  to 
pastoral  duty  altogether;  and  although 
this  line  of  labor  has  not  brought 
him  conspicuously  before  so  many 
congregations  of  the  Church  as  a 
more  desultory  method  of  work  would 
have  done,  yet  it  has  not  been  the 
less  productive  of  important  results. 
He  is  still  hale  and  vigorous  in  his 
physical  and  mental  powers,  and  his 
capacity  for  useful  labor  is  undimin- 
ished. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  81 

.  Thus  the  roll  of  the  living  and  the 
dead  is  concluded.  The  men  whose 
names  have  been  mentioned  have  made 
abundant  and  useful  history  for  our 
beloved  Church.  It  was  a  noble  and 
faithful  band — pious,  able,  earnest,  la- 
borious, and  devoted.  Look  down  the 
list  and  see  if  any  other  fifteen  names 
in  the  Church,  who  have  made  a  con- 
temporaneous history,  can  furnish  a 
complete  parallel.  I  would  not  ut- 
ter undue  eulogium  on  the  names  of 
any  class  of  men,  but  I  speak  con- 
scientiously and,  I  believe,  truthfully, 
when  I  say  that  the  good  these  men 
have  accomplished  will  never  be  fully 
known  in  this  world,  and  that  noth- 
ing but  the  records  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  will  disclose  the  magnitude  of 
the  blessings  they  wrought  for  a  sin- 


82  *  ^NT    PEGGY. 

ful  world.  But  whether  written  or  un- 
written be  their  lives,  their  monuments 
have  already  been  built,  and  each  has 
reared  his  own  for  himself.  Their  me- 
morials are  seen  on  every  hand  in  the 
hundred  churches  which  they  estab- 
lished, and  in  the  manifestations  of  af- 
fection by  the  thousands  of  Christians 
whom  they  were  instrumental  in  bring- 
ing to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

May  we  not  trace  something  in  the 
great  work  of  the  noble  band  which  we 
have  named — of  the  silent  and  gentle 
influence  of  the  mother  in  Israel,  at 
whose  fireside  they  all  sat  from  time  to 
time,  and  to  which  kindly  advice,  gentle 
encouragement,  and  motherly  care  and 
attention  were  given? 

The  sources  of  all  great  influences 
are  generally  remote  from  the   places 


AUNT    PEG     '^^ 


83 


of  their  exhibition.  The  motive-power 
of  many  great  acts  in  human  life  seems 
insignificant  when  compared  with  the 
deeds  themselves.  And  thus  it  is  with 
the  influence  of  a  pious,  good  woman. 
It  falls  as  the  silent  dew,  yet  it  nour- 
ishes and  strengthens  every  thing  it 
touches. 


84  AUNT    PEGGY. 


CHAPTER    Y. 

URING  the  residence  of    the 
..-j^, -,.       family  at  Lebanon,  one  event 
occurred  which  tried  the  sound- 
ness of  the  faith  and  of  the 
Christian  hopes  of  the  subject  of  this 
memoir. 

A  terrible  fever,  then  new  to  the  coun- 
try, broke  out  among  the  people,  and 
spread,  as  an  epidemic,  far  and  wide. 
It  was  fatal  in  numerous  instances. 
Death  and  mourning  were  brought  to 
many  households.  An  estimable  gen- 
tleman, connected  with  the  family  by 
marriage,  and  a  physician  of  learning 
and  ability,  was  numbered  among  the 


AUNT    PEGGY.  85 

victims.  Mrs.  Ewing  was  attacked  with 
the  fever,  and  for  many  long  weeks  was 
not  expected  to  live.  Then  it  was  that 
the  ffxith  which  she  had  professed  and 
preached  to  others  so  long  sustained  and 
supported  her,  with  the  almost  certain 
prospect  of  death  staring  her  in  the  face. 
The  long  and  painful  illness  developed 
the  rich  fruits  of  a  well-spent  Christian 
life,  and  without  a  fear  or  a  doubt  she 
awaited,  and  almost  invited,  the  mes- 
senger to  take  her  home.  But  she  sur- 
vived, and  lived  many  long  and  weary 
years  after  that. 

The  twelve  years  of  the  residence  of 
Mrs.  E wing's  family  at  Lebanon  com- 
prehended the  period  of  her  life  in 
which  her  good  works  most  abounded. 
She  was  then  in  the  full  maturity  of 
her  physical  and  mental  strength.    She 


86  AUNT    PEGGY. 

had  the  benefit  of  long  years  of  disci- 
pline, trial,  and  suffering.  During  the 
dark  days  of  the  early  period  of  the 
Church,  she  passed  through  a  refiner's 
furnace.  The  little  band  with  which 
her  destiny  was  cast  was  persecuted 
without  stint,  was  despised  and  ma- 
ligned, and  was  often  discouraged  and 
driven  back.  All  this  came  home  to  Mrs. 
Ewing  with  terrible  force.  Her  husband 
was  so  deeply  involved  in  every  thing 
that  appertained  to  the  welfare  and  his- 
tory of  the  young  Church,  that  she  could 
not  avoid  a  personal  interest  in  every 
thing  that  transpired. 

This,  then,  was  the  long  course  of 
discipline  through  which  she  had  passed. 
With  a  strong  and  cultivated  mind,  and 
with  a  stronger  faith  in  the  promises 
and  encouragements  of  the  gospel,  she 


AUNT    PEGGY.  87 

could  derive  strength,  and  courage,  and 
confidence  from  the  fiery  ordeal  of  per- 
secution, and  never  give  Avay  to  despond- 
ency or  despair.  With  the  benefit  of  this 
dear-bought  discipline  and  experience, 
she  entered  upon  her  unostentatious 
Christian  career  at  Lebanon,  and  contin- 
ued her  work  with  unabated  zeal  up  to 
the  day  of  her  removal  to  another  home. 

There  is  no  special  prominence  attach- 
ing to  the  Christian  life  and  labors  of 
Mrs.  Ewing  during  the  years  referred 
to.  The  excellency  of  her  character  is 
seen  rather  in  the  untiring  devotion 
which  she  always  exhibited  in  the  dis- 
charge of  all  her  duties,  whether  private 
and  domestic,  or  public  and  general. 

As  a  mother,  her  devotion  to  the  wel- 
fare of  a  numerous  family  of  children  is 
w^orthy  of  all  praise.     No  self-sacrifice, 


8^  AUNT    PEGGY. 

no  manual  labor,  or  motherly  attention, 
was  ever  too  great  for  her  to  perform 
whenever  the  emergencies  of  the  case 
demanded  it. 

Then  a  large  family  of  servants  re- 
quired untiring  labor  and  attention.  No 
mistress  was  ever  kinder  to  her  depend- 
ents, or  exhibited  more  solicitude  for 
their  welfiire,  than  did  Mrs.  Ewing. 

Grouping  together  the  general  fea- 
tures of  character  and  habits  of  life  of 
Mrs.  Ewing,  we  deduce  from  them  the 
following  conclusions : 

That  her  piety  produced  abundant 
fruits  in  love  to  God  and  good  works  to 
all  those  with  whom  she  was  surrounded 
or  came  in  contact. 

That  benevolence  was  demonstrated 
in  the  work  she  performed  and  the 
solicitude  she  exhibited  for  others. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  89 

That  self-sacrifice  and  constant  labor 
were  regarded  as  no  hardships,  if  there- 
by the  general  interests  of  religion,  or 
of  its  ministers,  could  be  promoted. 

That  her  excellent  sense  and  cultiva- 
tion were  fully  shown  in  maintaining  so 
well  the  difficult  position  that  she  was 
called  on  to  occupy. 

That  her  children  will  have  cause  to 
revere  her  memory  and  call  her  blessed 
through  all  the  years  of  their  lives,  and 
to  hand  down  her  name  in  praise  to  the 
generations  which  shall  follow  them. 

That  her  servants  found  in  her  their 
best  friend. 

And  that  the  infant  Church  with 
which,  so  early  in  its  life,  she  cast  her 
lot,  was  never  blessed  with  a  truer 
friend  or  more  prayerful  supporter. 

In  her  intercourse  with  her  family  or 


90  AUNT    PEGGY. 

society  there  was  nothing  demonstrative. 
Her  manners  were  quiet,  dignified,  and 
unconstrained.  She  did  not  talk  loud 
or  fast.  Upon  occasion,  however,  she 
could  easily  and  promptly  render  a  rea- 
son for  the  faith  that  was  in  her.  There 
were  no  negative  qualities  in  her  char- 
acter :  every  attribute  of  her  nature 
was  positive  in  its  development;  but 
long  discipline,  a  thorough  self-control, 
and  the  sanctifying  influences  of  grace 
in  the  heart,  toned  down  these  active 
traits,  so  that  she  became  capable  of 
performing  the  highest  duties  in  life 
without  making  an  offensive  exhibition 
of  self 

I  don't  call  her  a  perfect  woman,  by 
any  means.  She  had  her  faults,  and 
knew  them  well,  and  prayed  against 
them,  all  the  later  years  of  her  life. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  91 

every  day.  With  the  candor  of  a  sim- 
ple historian,  without  undue  eulogy  or 
praise,  I  claim  her  character  to  be  as  I 
have  stated  it  above,  and  refer  to  her 
long  life  of  fidelity  to  sustain  the  con- 
clusions I  have  reached. 

The  features  of  the  religious  life  of 
Mrs.  Ewing  are  deserving  especial  re- 
mark. Religion  to  her  was  a  sublime 
and  living  reality — a  real  experience, 
derived  from  an  abiding  trust  and  faith 
in  the  great  Author  of  her  salvation. 
The  very  mental  constitution  and  tem- 
perament of  the  woman  demanded  an 
experience  that  could  not  be  doubted, 
and  an  actual  realization  of  its  joys 
and  consolations. 

It  was  her  great  happiness  to  enjoy  a 
large  share  ©f  the  comforts  of  religion. 
It  was  her  unfailing  resource  in  all  the 


92  AUNTPEGGY. 

trials  and  afflictions  that  beset  her  path- 
way in  life.  It  was  her  constant  prac- 
tice to  refer  all  her  difficulties  to  her 
Heavenly  Father,  and  to  ask  his  guid- 
ance and  direction  on  all  occasions.  A 
favorite  idea  of  hers — and  she  so  ex- 
pressed herself  very  often — was  to  live 
very  near  the  Saviour,  and  to  realize 
constantly  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  in 
communion  with  her  own  spirit.  Some 
persons  will  scout  this  as  idle  enthusi- 
asm; but  it  was  a  living  and  sensible 
condition  to  her,  especially  in  the  later 
years  of  her  life,  when  no  business  or 
worldly  cares  were  upon  her  hands.  If 
it  were  enthusiasm,  it  was  a  blessed  one, 
and  brought  infinite  happiness  to  the 
subject  of  it. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  93 


CHAPTER    VI. 

^A^^MONG  the  interesting  cliarac- 
z-f^i  ters  who  visited  the  family  very 
often  during  its  residence  at 
Lebanon,  and  who  were  always 
welcome,  was  Dr.  Wm.  W.  Kavanaugh. 
In  some  respects  he  was  one  of  the 
most  interesting  men  in  the  social  circle 
I  ever  saw.  His  conversational  powers 
were  of  the  finest  order,  and  his  fund  of 
anecdote  and  humor  almost  inexhaust- 
ible. He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old 
school,  polite,  urbane,  benevolent,  and 
kind  to  a  fault.  He  was  not  a  great 
preacher,  as  that  term  is  now  under- 
stood ;  but  there  were  few  men  of  any 


94  AUNT    PEGGY. 

pulpit  who  could  be  more  eloquent  or 
powerful  in  exhortation.  I  have  heard 
him,  a  few  times,  when  his  eloquence 
reached  to  positive  sublimity.  And, 
again,  his  appeals  to  the  unconverted 
were  wonderfully  forcible  arid  effective. 

His  great  fault  was  in  a  want  of 
steadiness  of  purpose  in  reference  to  the 
business  affairs  of  life.  He  was  never 
contented  in  any  place  longer  than  a 
year  or  so  at  a  time.  He  moved  and 
removed  more  frequently  than  any  man  I 
ever  knew.  Half  the  then  States  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi  were  his  place 
of  residence  at  one  time  or  another. 

Mrs.  Ewing  frequently  remonstrated 
wdth  him  against  this  habit;  and  finally, 
on  one  occasion,  after  hearing  that  he 
contemplated  another  removal,  she  told 
him  if  he  died   before  she  did,  not  to 


AUNT    PEGGY.  95 

move  from  heaven  before  she  should  ar- 
rive and  know  he  was  there. 

He  did  not  preach  regularly  to  any 
particular  church,  but  wherever  and 
whenever  he  felt  disposed,  and  in  the 
later  years  of  his  life  devoted  himself 
to  the  practice  of  medicine,  in  which  he 
possessed  eminent  skill.  He  was  a  man 
of  mark  in  whatsoever  society  he  might 
be  placed,  and  commanded  the  respect 
of  all  and  the  esteem  and  love  of  many. 
He  is  now  dead,  and  I  can  but  invoke 
the  blessing  of  Heaven  upon  those  he 
has  left  behind,  and  say,  "  Peace  to  his 
ashes  ! " 

Another  character,  who  was  our  neigh- 
bor at  Lebanon,  deserves  more  than  a 
passing  notice.  Hon.  John  Miller  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Church  in  early 
life,  lived  for  awhile  in  Howard  county, 


96  AUNT    PEGGY. 

Missouri,  and  then  settled  not  far  from 
Lebanon,  in  Cooper  county,  and  re- 
mained there  till  he  died.  He  was  a 
man  of  very  fine  talents,  and  a  forcible, 
vigorous  public  speaker.  He  was  fond 
of  political  life,  and  was  frequently  a 
member  of  both  branches  of  the  Legis- 
lature, in  which  positions  he  always 
distinguished  himself  for  his  integrity 
as  a  man  and  for  his  ability  as  a  states- 
man. 

He  was  an  elder  in  the  congregation 
of  Pilot  Grove  after  it  was  organized 
out  of  the  Lebanon  Church,  and  was  fre- 
quently a  member  of  Presbytery  and 
Synod.  He  took  an  active  and  zealous 
part  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  His 
influence  was  greatly  sought  after  by 
the  leading  politicians  of  the  State.  He 
was  the  intimate  friend  of  Senator  Ben- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  97 

ton,  Governor  Miller,  and  others  who 
filled  the  high  places  in  the  State. 

About  the  year  1850,  Mr.  Miller  was 
a  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress  in 
his  district,  and  his  opponent  was  a 
very  eloquent  young  Whig  lawyer  of 
Boonville,  whose  name  was  also  John 
Miller,  and  our  Mr.  Miller  became  known 
throughout  the  country  as  ''  Ugly  John," 
to  distinguish  him  from  his  handsome 
young  rival  for  congressional  honors. 
Mr.  Miller  was  a  man  of  unfailing  good 
humor,  and  took  in  good  part  the  slurs 
of  his  political  opponents.  He  lived 
to  a  great  age,  and  illustrated  in  his 
death  the  infinite  value  of  the  religion 
which  he  had  so  long  professed,  and  for 
which  he  had  so  long  labored  and  sacri- 
ficed. 

One  of  his  sons  is  an  eminent  minis- 
7 


98  AUNT    PEGGY. 

ter  in  the  Church,  and  another  one  has 
been  for  twenty  years  a  distinguished 
judge  and  politician,  and  a  reputable 
member  of  the  Church. 

The  influence  of  Mr.  Miller  was 
widely  felt  in  his  day,  in  both  Church 
and  State;  and  in  the  character  of  such 
men  lies  the  salvation  of  both. 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be 
either  indelicate  or  inappropriate  to 
give  a  filial  estimate  in  brief  of  the 
character  of  Finis  Ewing.  He  was  so 
intimately  associated  with  the  noble 
band  of  early  ministers  already  men- 
tioned, that  the  picture  would  be  incom- 
plete without  a  sketch  of  his  portrait. 
No  effort  at  his  biography  w^ill  be  at- 
tempted—  that  has  been  written  by 
other  and  abler  hands. 

During  the  period  of  the  family  resi- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  99 

dence  at  Lebanon,  Mr.  Ewing  was  in 
the  full  maturity  of  his  powers.  The 
great  struggle  with  the  old  Church  and 
the  trying  ordeal  of  the  new  organiza- 
tion had  been  passed.  The  battle  had 
been  fought,  and  victory  had  perched 
upon  the  banner  of  the  little  band, 
which  had  been  flung  to  the  breeze,  not 
defiantly,  but  with  an  humble  trust  in 
the  power  and.  grace  of  the  great  Head 
of  the  Church.  The  first  contest  over, 
however,  did  not  give  to  the  victors  im- 
munity from  perpetual  labor,  watchful- 
ness, and  prayer.  To  maintain  the 
position  which  they  had  fought  so  gal- 
lantly to  gain,  required  all  the  skill,  and 
courage,  and  vigilance  which  was  requi- 
site to  the  first  achievement. 

At  this  period  of  his  life,  then,  Mr. 
Ewing  occupied  the  position  of  a  vet- 


100  AUNT    PEGGY. 

eran  soldier.  He  knew  the  power  and 
strength  of  the  enemy,  and,  above  all, 
he  understood  well  the  true  source  of 
his  own  influence  and  power.  In  hours 
of  great  emergency  he  never  lost  sight 
of  the  fact  that  the  battle  is  not  to  the 
strong,  nor  the  race  to  the  swift.  His 
reserve  force,  in  all  his  conflicts,  was  in 
the  omnific  arm  of  his  divine  Master, 
and  an  humble  reliance  upon  that  re- 
source was  the  leading  and  controlling 
idea  of  his  life.  It  was  indicated  in  all 
his  preaching  and  in  all  his  writings. 

The  Church  then  being  fully  organ- 
ized and  equipped  for  work,  it  was  the 
business  of  the  preachers  of  that  day 
to  do  the  work  before  them.  Mr.  Ew- 
ing  claimed  no  exemption  from  his 
share  of  the  labor;  he  traveled  and 
preached   constantly.      He   made  it  a 


AUNT    PEGGY.  101 

special  duty  to  be  with  his  own  Leb- 
anon people  at  his  regular  appoint- 
ments. 

In  all  the  intervals  of  time,  however, 
he  was  in  the  field;  and  wherever 
there  was  work  to  be  done,  he  was 
ready  and  willing  to  put  forth  a  helping 
hand. 

Camp-meetings  w^ere  then  held  in  all 
the  congregations  that  were  at  all  able 
to  support  them;  and  Mr.  Ewing  not 
only  went  himself,  but  to  many  places 
took  his  family  and  assisted  in  main- 
taining the  people  during  the  occasion. 
As  a  general  rule,  he  would  preach 
once  every  day. 

It  was  the  usual  custom  to  have  two 
sermons  during  the  day  and  one  at 
night.  Nor  was  the  labor  of  the 
preachers  confined  to  the  pulpit.     In 


102  AUNT    PEGGY. 

the  altar  and  at  the  places  of  secret 
prayer,  out  under  the  leafy  shelter  of 
the  spreading  trees,  they  were  found 
engaged  on  all  occasions  demanding 
their  attention. 

These  camp-meetings  were  generally 
fields  for  great  achievements  of  the 
Church.  Scores,  and  sometimes  hun- 
dreds, would  capitulate  to  the  embas- 
sadors of  the  heavenly  kingdom,  and 
surrender  unconditionally  to  the  de- 
mands of  Christ  for  their  love  and  obe- 
dience. 

I  will  not  attempt  any  analysis  of 
Mr.  Swing's  style  of  preaching  farther 
than  to  say  that  he  was  more  argu- 
mentative than  declamatory,  and  was 
always  logical  and  conclusive  in  his  rea- 
soning. Occasionally  he  would  make 
very  impassioned  appeals  to  his  audi- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  103 

ence.  But  all  the  habits  of  his  mind 
and  all  his  early  training  in  the  mat- 
ter and  manner  of  his  discourses  led 
him  to  an  argumentative  and  logical 
method. 

The  new  doctrine,  for  the  first  time 
so  distinctly  advanced  by  Presbyterian 
divines,  that  Christ  had  provided  salva- 
tion for  all  men,  was  so  vehemently  op- 
posed and  so  bitterly  assailed  by  the 
advocates  of  high  Calvinism  that  the 
supporters  of  the  new  theories  were 
compelled  to  train  their  minds  to  habits 
of  close  argument  and  critical  analysis. 
The  circumstances  that  surrounded  Mr. 
Ewing  in  all  the  years  of  his  ministry 
made  it  a  necessity  with  him  to  study 
to  give  a  reason  for  his  opinions ;  and 
under  this  sort  of  discipline  and  train- 
ing, he  became  simply  powerful  in  ar- 


104  AUNT    PEGGY. 

gnment.  That  power,  however,  w\ns 
never  exhibited,  except  in  the  pulpit. 
Under  the  inspiration  of  an  interest- 
ing discussion  his  logic  was  invincible, 
and  his  reasoning  irresistible.  The  er- 
rors and  sophisms  of  his  opponents 
would  be  swept  away  like  cob-webs. 

Mr.  Swing's  true  abilities  as  a 
preacher  and  theologian  are  not  exhib- 
ited in  his  writings.  Nothing  that  he 
has  ever  written,  except  a  letter  or  cir- 
cular in  reply  to  an  attack,  does  any 
thing  like  justice  to  his  abilities.  The 
characteristics  of  his  mind  and  his  men- 
tal training  would  have  qualified  him 
eminently  for  the  bar,  the  political 
forum,  or  the  bench.  Indeed,  many  of 
his  admirers  thought  the  true  theater 
of  his  life  lay  in  statesmanship.  It  is 
not  denied  either  that  he  had  consider- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  105 

able  taste  for  legal  and  political  reading. 
At  no  time,  however,  did  he  lose  sight, 
for  a  single  moment,  of  his  commission 
to  that  highest  and  greatest  of  all 
vocations,  the  ministry,  of  Christ.  He 
took  just  so  much  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  his  country  as  to  qualify  him  to  act 
intelligently  upon  all  questions  presented 
for  his  consideration,  and  to  vote  under- 
standingly  at  all  elections.  He  was  a 
usefid  citizen  and  a  Christian  patriot,  in 
addition  to  that  of  being  an  humble  and 
able  minister. 

The  leading  elements  of  his  charac- 
ter may  be  stated,  briefly,  as  follows  : 
His  administrative  abilities  w^ere  of  the 
highest  order.  This  was  demonstrated 
fully  in  the  manngement  of  his  family 
and  business  affairs,  and  especially  in 
his  Church  relations.     His  chief  mental 


106  AUNT    PEGGY. 

characteristics  find  expression  in  the 
terms  logical  and  forcible.  These  ele- 
ments of  mind  and  character  quaUfied 
him  for  the  position  of  a  leader  in  what- 
ever walk  of  life  he  chose  to  enter. 
These,  combined  with  his  ardent  zeal 
and  humble  piety,  fitted  him  for  trying 
emergencies  in  the  history  of  theolog- 
ical and  ecclesiastical  questions. 

The  theory  of  a  possible  salvation  for 
all  men,  and  at  the  same  time  security 
in  Christ  for  the  true  believer,  is  no 
new  truth.  It  is  as  old  as  the  Bible 
and  as  the  Author  of  our  salvation.  It 
was  simply  eliminated  from  the  teach- 
ings of  Christ  in  the  New  Testament, 
divested  of  the  rubbish  of  high  Calvin- 
ism and  the  fallacies  of  Arminianism. 
It  was  simply  reasserting,  in  a  new 
formula,  the  sublime  truth  of  the  Bible, 


AUNT    PEGGY.  107 

that  a  just  and  merciful  God  must  be 
true  to  his  essential  nature,  and  cannot 
deal  with  the  creatures  of  his  hands 
(all  being  alike  sinful)  except  on  the 
general  principle  of  justice  to  condemn 
all,  and  of  divine  benevolence  to  pro- 
vide salvation  for  all. 

The  great  central  idea  of  Cumber- 
land Presbyterianism,  as  promulgated 
by  the  fathers,  is  simply  a  possible  sal- 
vation for  all  men,  and  security  in  Christ 
to  the  penitent  believer.  In  this  sys- 
tem the  character  of  God,  in  the  attri- 
bute of  his  justice,  is  unimpugned,  and 
the  power  and  willingness  of  the  Father 
to  save  to  the  uttermost  the  children 
begotten  to  him  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  are 
unimpeached. 

The  old  ship  "Cumberland,"  about 
which  some  of  our  new-found   Scotch 


108  AUNT    PEGGY. 

friends  liaA^e  written  lately,  can  find  a 
smooth  passnge  between  the  rocks  of 
Scylla  on  the  one  side  and  the  whirl- 
pool of  Charybdis  on  the  other. 

Mr.  Ewing's  intercourse  with  the  nu- 
merous young  preachers  who  attended 
the  same  Church-meetings  and  judica- 
tures was  cordial,  paternal,  and  kind. 
There  was  nothing  assumed  on  account 
of  his  position  ;  only  the  character  of 
instruction  was  exhibited.  I  have  heard 
the  young  men  argue  with  him  stoutly 
and  boldly  upon  questions  of  theology 
and  Church  polity. 

He  was  often  flattered  and  made 
much  of  by  indiscreet  persons ;  but  if 
it  ever  augmented  his  pride,  or  puffed 
him  up,  I  do  n't  remember  to  have  seen 
any  evidence  of  it.  One  of  the  lessons 
that  he  endeavored  to  teach  the  preach- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  109 

ers  and  tlie  Church  generally,  more  per- 
sistently than  any  other,  was  the  grace 
of  abidmg  and  growing  humility.  The 
very  prosperity  of  the  Church  was  a 
source  of  uneasiness  and  alarm  to  him, 
for  fear  that  the  people  should  become 
proud  of  their  strength  and  forget  their 
reliance  upon  the  all-powerful  Arm 
which  had  raised  them  up  from  such 
small  beginnings. 


110  AUNT    PEGGY. 


^m 


CHAPTER    YII, 


linger  in  the  shadows  of 
Lebanon  with  pecuhar  pleas- 
ure. In  the  cemetery  hard 
by,  several  members  of  our 
family  and  many  dear  friends  and  neigh- 
bors have  found  their  last  earthly  home. 
To  the  old  meeting-house  we  went  to 
school  in  the  week,  and  to  church  on 
Sunday. 

We  recall  the  names  of  some  of  our 
teachers  and  school  -  fellows  with  a 
mournful  pleasure.  To  many  of  them 
"  the  fitful  fever  of  life's  dream  has 
closed  forever."  How  widely  scattered 
are  the  men  who  grew  up  from  boyhood 


AUNT    PEGGY.  Ill 

in  that  vicinity,  and  how  varied  has 
been  their  destiny  in  life !  Some  of 
them  have  made  an  honorable  record  in 
the  annals  of  the  Church  and  the  State. 
A  number  of  years  ago,  three  or  four 
of  the  Lebanon  boys  became  members 
of  the  Missouri  Legislature,  at  the  same 
session ;  another  one  had  become  a  dis- 
tinguished judge,  another  Attorney-Gen- 
eral of  the  State,  and  another  held  a 
high  office  under  the  United  States. 
They  all  met  in  Jefferson  City,  the 
State  capital,  at  the  same  time ;  and  no 
incident  in  the  life  of  one  of  them  at 
least  has  afforded  him  more  unalloyed 
pleasure  than  that  meeting.  Most  of 
them  were  members  of  the  Church,  and 
they  all  recalled  the  period  of  their 
early  days  at  Lebanon  with  the  great- 
est  interest  and  satisfaction.     I   have 


112  AUNT    PEGGY. 

good  reason  to  hope  that  they  will  all 
meet  again  in  the  capital  of  the  heav- 
enly kingdom,  where  God  is  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Christ  the  great  Minister  of 
State. 

The  old  settlers  about  Lebanon  seemed 
to  be  content  with  their  homes  and  their 
countr}^,  and  there  they  lived,  and  died, 
and  were  buried.  Many  of  the  young 
people,  of  course,  sought  their  homes 
and  their  fortunes  in  other  lands. 

Twenty-live  years  after  the  family  of 
Mr.  Ewing  had  removed  from  Lebanon, 
the  writer  again  visited  the  old  place 
under  circumstances  of  unusual  interest. 
When  he  left  the  neighborhood  he  was 
a  boy  of  sixteen,  and  returned  again  a 
gray-haired  man,  seeking  political  hon- 
ors from  the  people  of  the  State.  The 
announcement  that  an  old  Lebanon  boy 


AUNT    PEGGY.  113 

would  present  his  claims  to  the  people 
for  the  office  of  Governor,  brought  out 
all  the  old  citizens  of  the  neighborhood; 
and  notwithstanding  the  long  absence 
of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  every  f^ice 
was  instantly  recognized ;  and  then  the 
pages  of  all  the  history  of  our  residence 
under  the  shadows  of  the  old  church 
were  unfolded,  and  their  contents  scan- 
ned, read,  and  re-read,  with  infinite  in- 
terest and  attention. 

A  few  years  later,  the  writer  again 
visited  the  place,  and  a  different,  but 
far  more  interesting,  event  was  trans- 
piring. The  old  church,  that  had  done 
duty  for  a  third  of  a  century  as  school- 
house  and  meeting-house,  had  been  re- 
moved, and  its  place  was  occupied  by  a 
large,  handsome,  v/ell-built  brick  edifice; 
and  this  was  the  occasion  of  the  dedica- 
8 


114  AUNT    PEGGY. 

tion  of  the  new  cLiirch.  I  looked  over 
the  great  congregation,  and  nearly  all 
the  old  faces  were  absent.  A  new  gen- 
eration had  come  upon  the  stage.  Rev. 
P.  G.  Rea  preached  the  sermon  on  the 
occasion.  The  congregation  was  very 
large,  and  respectable  in  appearance. 
Quite  a  large  sum  of  money  was  raised 
to  pay  off  the  debt  upon  the  house; 
and  thus  the  Church  at  Lebanon  entered 
upon  a  new  era  in  its  history.  The 
seed  planted  in  the  wilderness  has 
borne  most  abundant  fruit.  Hundreds, 
and  perhaps  thousands,  have  been  con- 
verted upon  the  consecrated  ground, 
and  influences  for  good  have  gone  out 
from  them  to  the  four  quarters  of  the 
compass. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  115 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

($^  HE  family  of  Mr.  Ewing,  in 
the  year  1832,  moved  from 
New  Lebanon,  Cooper  county, 
to  Lafayette  county,  Mo.,  and 
settled,  near  the  town  of  Lex- 
ington, in  the  Brick  Church  congrega- 
tion. 

The  reasons  for  this  change  of  resi- 
dence— for  breaking  the  ties  that  bound 
pastor  and  people,  neighbors  and  friends 
— were  not  fully  understood,  and  have 
frequently  been  misstated  by  those  not 
familiar  with  all  the  facts. 

At  first  glance  it  seemed  incredible 
that  persons  so  pleasantly  situated,  as 


116  AUNT    PEGGY. 

were  Mr.  Ewing  and  family,  could  be 
induced  to  break  away  from  such  a 
home  and  so  many  agreeable  associa- 
tions and  tender  ties.  All  the  appur- 
tenances of  the  home — houses,  lands, 
and  fields — were  in  the  very  best  con- 
dition. All  the  arrangements  and  ap- 
pointments of  the  place  were  in  perfect 
harmony,  indicating  the  prevailing  hab- 
its and  tastes  of  the  master.  Every 
thing  bore  the  character  and  influence 
of  thorough  system. 

This  work  was  projected  when  the 
country  was  a  comparative  wilderness, 
but,  at  the  date  we  speak  of,  the  whole 
land  was  dotted  over  with  other  beauti- 
ful homes,  and  altogether  it  was  a  good 
country  for  one  to  spend  his  life  and 
finally  be  buried  in. 

The  force  requisite  to  cultivate  this 


AUNT    PEGGY.  117 

f?irm  was  necessarily  considerable.  It 
required  a  great  deal  of  attention  from 
the  head  of  the  household. 

About  this  time,  or  perhaps  a  little 
before,  Mr.  Ewing  had  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  it  was  wrong  for  him  to 
hold  slaves,  and  had  determined  to  pro- 
vide for  their  emancipation  at  an  early 
day.  Though  still  in  the  vigor  of 
life,  he  was  advancing  in  years.  He 
disliked  to  bestow  upon  his  farm  so 
much  time  and  attention  which  he  de- 
sired to  devote  to  his  ministerial  duties. 
The  purpose  to  manumit  his  slaves 
would  render  him  comparatively  a  poor 
man,  and  he  still  had  a  number  of  his 
children  to  bring  up  and  educate.  He 
had  served  the  Church  nearly  all  his 
life  without  compensation,  because  the 
Church  was  young  and  poor^  and  he 


118  AUNT    PEGGY. 

desired  that  what  the  people  could  give 
to  sustain  the  gospel  should  be  given  to 
those  who  were  in  greater  need  of  as- 
sistance than  himself.  He  w^as  always 
a  successful  manager  of  his  temporal 
affaii^j  and  was  always  independent  in 
his  circumstances. 

These  and  other  considerations  not 
necessary  to  detail  here  induced  Mr. 
Ewing  to  accept  from  President  Jack- 
son a  Federal  appointment  in  the  town 
of  Lexington,  the  duties  of  which  he 
could  discharge  by  deputy,  and  the 
avails  of  which  would  support  him 
handsomely  after  he  had  given  up  his 
fine  farm  at  Lebanon. 

Accordingly  Mr.  Ewing  moved  to 
Lafayette  county  in  the  fall  of  1832. 
He  left  nearly  all  of  his  servants  on 
the  farm  in  charge  of  a  man  as  man- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  119 

ager,  with  all  the  details  arranged  for 
their  speedy  emancipation.- 

A  small  farm  was  purchased  near  the 
Brick  Church,  as  stated  above,  and  the 
family  took  up  their  residence  there. 
The  removal  from  Lebanon  was  a  se- 
vere trial  to  Mrs.  Ewing.  Her  friends 
were  counted  by  hundreds,  not  only  in 
that  immediate  vicinity,  but  through- 
out the  county.  Her  solicitude  for  the 
servants  left  behind  was  very  great. 
A  married  daughter,  who  had  been 
many  years  an  invalid,  was  also  left  in 
the  neighborhood.  But,  for  many  long 
years,  she  had  been  learning  the  lesson 
every  day  that  her  duty  lay  in  the 
path  of  self-sacrifice  and  self-denial, 
and  she  submitted  to  what  seemed  to 
be  her  duty  in  the  premises  without 
complaint.     In  the  ]:>ew  home,  new  as- 


120  AUNT    PEGGY. 

sociations  were  to  be  formed  and  new 
neighbors  to  be  cultivated.  I  have  of- 
ten heard  her  say  that  she  never  lived 
in  a  place  where  she  did  not  have  good 
neighbors.  I  have  thought  of  the  re- 
mark frequently. 

In  order  for  one  to  have  good  neigh- 
bors, he  must  himself  be  a  good  neigh- 
bor to  others,  and  they  will  not  often 
be  otherwise  themselves.  The  rule,  of 
course,  has  its  exceptions;  but  the  sen- 
timent uttered  by  Mrs.  Ewing,  in  that 
connection,  has  influenced  my  own  con- 
duct in  my  neighborly  relations,  and  I 
have  always  found  good  results  follow- 
ing it. 

We  found  quite  a  large  congregation 
of  Church-members  in  our  new  neigh- 
borhood. I  believe  the  minister  who 
organized  the  Church  was  the  Rev.  R. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  121 

D.  Morrow.     He  did  not  live  immedi- 
ately in  that  vicinity  at  that  time. 

The  only  preacher  of  our  denomina- 
tion residing  in  that  part  of  the  country 
was  Rev.  (Col.)  Wm.  Horn.  He  was  so 
much  of  a  character  in  the  community 
at  that  time  and  afterward,  that  I  can- 
not resist  the  temptation  to  give  a  short 
sketch  of  the  man.  He  had  been  a 
very  worldly,  wicked  man,  according  to 
his  own  account;  was  fond  of  military 
life  and  the  trappings  of  military  pa- 
rade. He  bore  the  title  of  colonel,  and 
long  after  he  became  a  minister  he 
was  called  Col.  Horn.  He  was  a  frank, 
genial,  social  man  in  his  manners — 
sprightly  to  a  degree,  quick  at  retort, 
and  often  too  quick  to  resent  a  real  or 
supposed  affront.  He  came  into  the 
ministry  too  late  in  life  and  with  ac- 


122  AUNT    PEGGY. 

quirements  too  limited  to  qualify  him 
for  the  deep  learning  of  theology;  yet 
he  was  a  good  and  useful  preacher. 
His  exhortations  were  sometimes  really 
powerful,  and  would  create  a  deep  im- 
pression on  the  minds  of  his  congrega- 
tions. 

He  was  naturally  a  belligerent  man. 
He  was  born  to  fight,  and  generally  to 
conquer.  It  afforded  him  the  keenest 
enjoyment  to  get  into  a  private  argu- 
ment or  public  controversy  with  a  foe 
worthy  of  his  steel.  Though  his  mind 
was  never  disciplined,  yet  he  could  argue 
a  point  with  a  good  deal  of  logical  force, 
and  that,  combined  with  his  powers  of 
ridicule,  made  him  a  formidable  opponent. 
He  acquired  more  fame  as  a  temperance 
lecturer  than  as  a  preacher.  He  made 
a  most  effective  temperance  speech.   He 


AUNT    PEGGY.  IZo 

would  sometimes  convulse  his  auditors 
with  laughter,  and  then  have  them  in 
tears  over  the  woes  of  the  drunkard's 
wife  and  children.  The  Synod  of  Mis- 
souri employed  him  at  one  time  to 
travel  and  lecture  upon  this  subject 
throughout  the  State. 

He  had  faults,  as  all  other  men  who 
inherit  our  sinful  nature ;  but  they  were 
largely  counterbalanced  by  his  excellent 
qualities  of  head  ai>d  heart.  The  friend- 
ship between  him  and  Mr.  E\Ying  was 
more  than  ordinarily  cordial  and  tender. 
He  died  in  middle  life,  having  accom- 
plished very  much  good  in  his  brief 
ministerial  life  and  labors. 

The  leading  character  connected  with 
the  Church  in  our  new  home,  who  was 
not  a  minister,  was  Chatham  Ewing, 
elder  brother  of  Rev.  Finis  Ewing.  "  Un- 


124  AUNT    PEGGY. 

cle  Chatham,"  as  everybody  called  hira, 
had  been  an  early  settler  in  the  coun- 
try, and  Jiad  contributed  very  greatly 
to  the  building  up  of  the  congregation, 
in  which  he  was  a  ruling  elder.  I  feel 
no  delicacy  in  speaking  of  this  most  ex- 
cellent man.  I  think  he  was  the  most 
useful  layman  that  I  have  known  in 
the  denomination.  Every  person  in  the 
community  had  unbounded  confidence 
in  his  integrity  and  piety;  and  with 
that  he  was  the  most  industrious,  zeal- 
ous' Christian  in  the  congregation.  He 
always  took  an  active  part  in  the  public 
exercises  of  the  meetings  he  attended 
— prayed  and  exhorted  with  more  effect 
than  most  of  the  preachers.  His  pow-' 
ers  in  this  direction  were  indeed  re- 
markable. The  boldest  sinner  in  the 
land  w^ould   bow  before  his  persuasive 


AUNT    PEGGY.  125 

eloquence.  He  was  a  man  of  meek  and 
gentle  spirit,  and  was  not  qualified  for 
the  rough  contests  of  life.  He  con- 
quered by  kindness  and  love.  When  I 
first  knew  him,  he  was  quite  advanced 
in  life,  and  was  rapidly  preparing  for 
the  final  summons.  Death  never  at- 
tacked an  earthly  tabernacle  that  was 
more  ready  and  willing  to  surrender, 
than  when  he  knocked  at  the  door  of 
old  Uncle  Chatham.  He  bade  him  en- 
ter with  an  absolute  confidence  that  his 
divine  Master  would  rescue  him  from 
all  enemies  after  the  earthly  house  had 
fallen.  He  was  a  ripe  Christian,  and 
ready  for  the  heavenly  garner.  I  don't 
know  where  his  mantle  fell,  if  it  ever 
did  fall;  for  I  have  seen  no  one  just 
like  him  since  his  departure. 

I  speak  within  bounds  when  I  say  I 


126  AUNT    PEGGY. 

have  never  seen  so  large  a  concourse  of 
people  attend  the  burial  of  any  private 
citizen  as  followed  to  the  old  Brick 
Church  the  remains  of  this  good  man. 
His  memory  is  precious  to  hundreds 
who  still  remain,  and  scores  will  call 
him  blessed  w^ho  have  already  joined 
him  in  that  better  land. 

Contemporary  with  Uncle  Chatham 
was  another  most  excellent  man  and 
member  of  the  Church — Capt.  William 
Jack.  He  was  an  early  settler  in  this 
new  country,  and,  I  believe,  emigrated 
from  Tennessee.  He  was  one  of  those 
sterling,  incorruptible  men,  who  gave 
character  to  society  among  the  first  in- 
habitants of  the  country.  The  first  em- 
igrants to  central  and  western  Missouri 
were  not  the  rough,  lawless  characters 
that  frequently  make  their  way  to  new 


AUNT     PEGGY.  127 

countries  before  a  better  class  of  citi- 
zens come  in.  Most  of  the  first  emi- 
grants which  reached  this  part  of  the 
State  were  men  of  excellent  character, 
who  had  large  and  growing  families, 
and  sought  a  new  country  to  get  cheap 
lands,  and  thus  contribute  to  the  ad- 
vantageous settlement  of  their  children 
in  life.  Capt.  Jack  had  a  most  estima- 
ble family.  Moral,  intelligent,  and  re- 
fined, they  were  ornaments  of  society  in 
his  day,  and  have  been  in  the  several 
communities  in  which  they  have  resided 
since.  Most  of  them  were  members  of 
the  Church,  and  an  eminent  minister  and 
a  distinguished  lawyer  married  two  of 
the  daughters. 

Among  the  young  preachers  who 
came  into  the  ministry  about  this  time 
were  Rev.  T.  M.  Johnston  (now  of  Cal- 


128  AUNT    PEGGY. 

ifornia)  and  Rev.  A.  A.  Young.  I  refer 
to  these  two  in  particular  because  of 
the  conspicuous  part  each  of  them  took 
in  the  establishment  of  the  Church  in 
the  localities  where  they  resided.  Both 
of  these  good  men  rode  the  circuit  in 
south-west  Missouri,  when  there  were 
but  few  inhabitants  and  no  ministers  of 
our  denomination.  They  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  the  most  numerous  body  of 
Cumberland  Presbyterians  to  be  found 
in  the  same  area  of  country  anywhere 
west  of  the  Mississippi  River.  There 
are  now  three  Presbyteries  and  one 
Synod,  and  num.erous  churches,  and  a 
large  membership,  within  the  bounds  of 
their  old  circuit. 

Mr.  Johnston  is  of  the  Barnett  stock, 
and  has  a  good  many  of  the  character- 
istics of  the  eminent  ministers  of  that 


AUNT    PEGGV.  129 

name  who  were  so  conspicuous  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Church.  He  is  a 
most  earnest,  humble,  and  faithful 
Christian  minister,  and  has-  accom- 
plished wonderful  results  in  his  profes- 
sion. 

Mr.  Johnston  went  to  California  at 
an  early  day,  and  has  probably  done 
more  to  establish  our  cause  on  the 
Pacific  coast  than  any  man  of  the  de- 
nomination. His  abilities  are  far  above 
the  average,  and  his  attainments  in  lit- 
erature and  theology  are  very  respect- 
able. 

Mr.  Johnston  edited  and  published 
the  first  paper  of  our  Church  on  that 
coast,  for  many  years  with  the  most  mea- 
ger support  from  the  scattered  Churches 
of  that  country.  It  was  a  decade  of 
unremitting  toil  and  labor,  and  no  re- 
9 


130  AUNT    PEGGY. 

muneration.  He  would  write  his  edi- 
torials, and  often  set  them  up  in  type 
and  work  at  the  press  upon  occasion. 
Not  one  in  a  thousand  would  have  per- 
formed such  a  work  under  the  same 
circumstances.  He  deserves  to  be 
honorably  mentioned  upon  all  occa- 
sions, and  I  here  pay  my  humble  trib- 
ute to  his  eminent  worth  as  a  minister 
of  the  gospel,  and  pray  that  the  long 
period  of  his  labor  of  love  may  yet  be 
crowned  with  the  most  glorious  results, 
and  that  his  last  days  may  be  his 
brightest  and  best!  All  honor  to  the 
man  who  can  Avork  for  years,  and  know 
that  his  reward  is  only  to  be  realized 
beyond  the  confines  of  life ! 


AUNT    PEGGY.  131 


CHAPTER    IX 


HE  next  summer  after  the  ar- 
rival of  the  family  at  their  new 
home  was  held  the  great  camp- 
meeting. 
The  camp -ground  formed  a  square 
in  the  rear  of  the  church-house.  In 
the  center  of  the  square  a  spacious 
shelter  was  erected  and  covered  with 
boards.  It  was  as  secure  from  the 
rain  and  as  comfortable  as  a  house.  A 
large  number  of  persons  encamped  on 
the  ground,  and,  as  was  usual  in  that 
day,  the  people  came  from  far  and  near 
to  attend  the  meeting.  The  congrega- 
tions   were   very  large    and    orderly. 


132  AUNT    PEGGY. 

The  ministers  preached  with  the  spirit 
and  unction  that  was  exhibited  in  the 
earlier  days  of  the  Church.  The  peo- 
ple seemed  to  be  under  the  spell  of 
some  great  awe  which  hushed  every 
thing  into  silence,  except  during  the 
public  exercises.  They  trod  lightly 
upon  the  grassy  turf,  and  spoke  with 
bated  breath. 

In  the  evening  twilight  the  camp- 
ground was  almost  deserted,  and  the 
contiguous  groves  became  vocal  with 
prayer  and  praises,  and,  ever  and  anon, 
the  glad  shout  of  deliverance  from  sin's 
captivity  rang  out  upon  the  evening 
air.  That  was  an  occasion  on  which 
Israel  prevailed  in  every  conflict  with 
his  enemies.  The  converts  were  num- 
bered by  scores,  the  Church  was  greatly 
strengthened,    and    a    permanent    and 


AUNT    PEGGY.  133 

powerful  influence  for  good  was  estab- 
lished in  the  community.  It  was  on 
these  and  all  similar  occasions  that  the 
influence  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
was  peculiarly  exerted  and  widely  felt. 
In  her  new  home,  as  well  as  in  the  old, 
her  life  was  devoted  to  toil  and  labor. 
Her  house  again  became  the  home 
of  the  young  preacher,  and  again  she 
dedicated  the  years  of  her  life  to  la- 
bor and  work  for  her  Master  in  what- 
soever situation  she  might  be  placed. 
Unobtrusive  and  unostentatious,  she 
rather  sought  the  humbler  spheres  of 
useful  labor;  and  if  her  work  was  not 
so  prominently  connected  with  the 
cause  of  her  Master,  it  was  for  the 
benefit  of  those  who  were  directly  en- 
gaged in  the  work. 

And  in  this  manner  is  a  woman's  in- 


134  AUNT    PEGGY. 

fluence  most  generally  to  be  employed. 
She  does  not  pray  in  public,  or  preach 
from  the  pulpit.  Her  power  is  felt  as 
is  the  falling  of  the  gentle  rain  or  the 
silent  dew.  It  makes  no  noise,  yet  it 
nourishes  and  vivifies  every  thing  it 
touches. 

The  new  ideas  of  woman's  rights  and 
woman's  sphere  did  not  prevail  in  those 
days;  and  the  day  when  all  such  ideas 
are  banished  from  the  minds  of  good 
women  will  deserve  to  be  marked  with 
a  white  stone.  A  truly  pious  woman, 
and  one  who  really  desires  to  be  useful 
in  her  day,  can  find  a  thousand  ave- 
nues through  which  influences  for  good 
may  be  employed,  without  pushing  her- 
self to  the  front,  and  without  obtruding 
herself  upon  man's  exclusive  theater 
of  action.     True  benevolence  seeks  con- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  135 

cealment  rather  than  ostentatious  and 
garish  exhibition.  A  true  woman,  with 
her  spirit  sanctified  by  the  holy  influ- 
ences of  genuine  religion,  will  make 
herself  an  active  and  positive  power 
for  good  wherever  she  may  live.  In 
the  character  of  her  children,  relations, 
friends,  and  neighbors,  may  be  found 
the  real  fruit  of  her  labor,  and  that 
may  be  traced  from  one  generation  to 
another.  A  great  sermon  may  be  ex- 
tolled and  praised  throughout  the  land, 
but  the  silent  influence  that  molded 
and  qualified  the  preacher  may  never 
be  heard  of. 

As  a  minister's  wife,  enough  has  al- 
ready been  said  to  indicate  the  fitness 
of  Mrs.  Ewing  for  that  position.  I 
avail  myself  of  this  connection  to  say 
a  word    in   vindication    of   preachers' 


136  AUNT    PEGGY. 

wives  generally.  I  have  heard  num- 
erous complaints  by  fastidious  members 
of  the  Church  to  this  effect,  that  cer- 
tain ministers  were  unfortunate  in  their 
marriage  relations — their  wives  were 
not  cultivated  women,  they  were  not 
adapted  to  refined  society,  and,  of 
course,  could  not  exert  their  proper 
influence  among  the  more  intelligent 
members  of  the  community.  That  this 
is  true  in  some  instances,  and  is  to  be 
regretted,  is  not  denied;  yet  there  is 
an  apology  for  such  women  that  is  not 
often  thought  of.  When  the  young 
preacher  and  his  wife  were  married, 
there  was  general  equality  in  their 
character,  habits,  and  attainments. 
Then  she  was  altogether  his  equal. 
But  in  the  course  of  years  the  minister 
improves  very  much;  becomes  quite  a 


AUNT    PEGGY.  137' 

prominent  man,  it  may  be,  and  his  wife 
remains  stationary.  She  has  had  no 
time  for  literary  culture,  no  means  to 
gratify  such  a  taste  if  she  possessed  it, 
and  has  had  possibly  to  submit  to  the 
hardships  of  cook  and  nurse  without 
any  alleviation  or  mitigation  of  her 
condition  for  long  years  together. 

The  preachers  are  nearly  all  poor, 
and  but  poorly  paid  for  their  work,  and 
their  wives  are  subjected  to  a  lot  that 
seems  almost  cruel  in  many  cases.  I 
have  a  profound  sympathy  for  the  fam- 
ily of  a  good  preacher  which  is  thus 
situated.  His  wife  works  like  a  slave 
— dresses  poorly — has  nothing  to  read, 
and  no  time  to  read  if  she  had — a  fam- 
ily of  children  to  rear  and  work  for, 
with  no  means  of  educating  them.  It 
seems   a  terrible    ordeal    for    a   good 


138  AUNT    PEGGY. 

3^oman  to  endure.  But  I  cannot  pass 
from  this  point  without  reprobating  the 
practice  of  very  early  marriages  among 
preachers. 

A  man  of  some  promise  enters  the 
ministry,  and  about  the  time  he  is  or- 
dained, and  very  frequently  before,  he 
takes  a  wife,  young,  poor,  and  green, 
as  he  is,  and  thus  he  closes  forever 
the  door  to  distinction  and  extended 
usefulness.  They  are  both  subjected 
to  a  life  of  unmitigated  toil  and  sacri- 
fice, and  their  children  are  dedicated  to 
ignorance  and  obscurity. 

I  return  from  this  episode  about 
preachers'  wives  and  the  evils  of  the 
early  marriages  of  ministers.  I  propose 
to  give  my  views  at  length  upon  the 
last  part  of  this  topic  in  another  more 
appropriate  connection. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  139 

We  have  found  the  family  settled 
pleasantly  in  their  new  home.  It  was 
not  a  place  of  much  pretensions.  The 
house  and  farm  were  both  smaller  than 
at  Lebanon.  The  children  at  home 
were  reduced  to  two,  and  sometimes 
only  one.  The  servants  were  reduced 
in  number,  also.  The  heads  of  the  fam- 
ily were  on  the  decline  of  life,  and 
making  slow,  but  sensible,  progress  in 
that  direction.  The  capacity  for  effec- 
tive labor  on  the  part  of  both  was  per- 
ceptibly diminishing;  yet  the  services 
at  the  church  and  the  camp-meetings, 
both  far  and  near,  were  still  regularly 
attended.  No  special  event  broke  the 
monotony  of  their  lives  for  several  years. 

One  circumstance  is  well  remembered 
that  occurred  during  this  period.  Rev. 
Eeuben  Burrow,  so  well  known  to  the 


140  AUNT    PEGGY. 

whole  Church,  had  preached  in  western 
Missouri  shortly  after  he  entered  the 
ministry.  He  was  probably  one  of  the 
first  of  our  preachers  who  labored  regu- 
larly in  this  country.  His  stay  was 
only  temporary,  however.  He  returned 
to  his  home  in  Tennessee  after  awhile, 
and  in  about  eight  or  ten  years  he  re- 
visited his  old  friends  and  his  early  field 
of  labor  in  western  Missouri.  He  and 
his  traveling  companion,  Mr.  Bigham, 
arrived  at  Mr.  Ewing's  in  mid-summer, 
in  1834  or  1835.  The  writer  traveled 
with  them  from  Boonville  to  Lafayette. 
They  were  simply  on  a  preaching  tour 
through  the  country.  Mr.  Burrow  was 
then  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood. 
His  mental  characteristics  resembled 
his  physical  —  strong,  powerful,  and 
rugged.     His    thoughts   were    original 


AUNT    PEGGY.  141 

and  vigorous,  and  expressed  with  singu- 
lar force,  and  sometimes  with  great  ve- 
hemence. He  was  an  effective  preacher. 
His  style  was  not  palatable  to  a  fastidi- 
ous taste,  but  he  always  commanded 
attention  through  the  mere  force  of  his 
character.  In  debate,  I  don't  suppose 
he  would  have  been  ready  and  quick 
enough  for  reply  or  retort :  his  tem- 
perament w^ould  require  him  "  to  warm 
up,"  and  he  would  need  time  to  adjust 
himself  to  the  task  before  him;  but 
w^hen  aroused,  and  all  his  great  powers 
brought  fully  into  play,  he  was  a  lion 
indeed. 


e^J^' 


142  AUNT    PEGGY. 


CHAPTER    X. 


jHIWAVING  resided  a  few  years  at 
i^  their  country  home  in  Laf^iy- 
ette  county,  the  family  removed 
into  the  town  of  Lexington. 
The  children  had  all  grown  up  and  left 
the  paternal  roof,  except  one,  and  he 
discharged  the  duties  of  his  father's 
office  in  town.  The  family  servants 
were  nearly  all  practically  free,  if  not 
legally  manumitted.  The  household  was 
now  very  small :  two  servants  and  the 
two  old  people  were  the  ordinary  fam- 
ily. But  a  house  without  children,  that 
had  been  so  long  accustomed  to  them, 
seemed  almost  desolate.     Children  are 


AUNT    PEGGY.  143 

the  sunlight  of  any  household ;  and  I 
pity  the  family  in  whose  home  the  pat- 
ter of  little  feet  was  never  heard.  The 
unnatural  vacuum  could  not  remain  long 
in  this  family,  and  accordingly  several 
grandchildren  w^ere  duly  installed  to  fill 
the  places  made  vacant  by  the  departure 
of  their  predecessors ;  and  then  the  old 
home  looked  like  itself  again. 

There  was  no  church -house  in  the 
town  at  the  time  referred  to.  The 
court-house  served  for  that  purpose  to 
all  denominations.  ,Mr.  Ewing  never 
lived  long  in  any  place  without  a  suit- 
able place  of  public  worship;  and  ac- 
cordingly, with  his  accustomed  energy, 
he  soon  had  a  comfortable  building 
erected  and  a  congregation  duly  organ- 
ized. Two  of  the  first  elders  of  that 
congregation  deserve  a  passing  notice. 


144  AUNT    PEGGY. 

George  and  William  Houx  are  brothers. 
They  are  old-time  Cumberland  Presby- 
terians. They  are  now  far  advanced  in 
life,  and  can  look  back  upon  a  long 
career  of  usefulness  to  the  Church  and 
the  country.  They  are  of  a  class  of 
men  now  very  rare  within  my  knowl- 
edge. While  energetically  employed  in 
temporal  pursuits,  and  unusually  suc- 
cessful in  business,  they  are  always 
prepared  for  the  duties  of  religion  and 
the  obligations  of  the  Church. 

A  friend  of  ming,  who  had  long  been 
a  merchant,  quit  the  business  and  went 
on  to  a  farm.  He  told  me  he  liked  his 
new  pursuits  better  than  the  old,  be- 
cause he  could  worship  God  while  fol- 
lowing the  plow.  So  in  reference  to 
these  men ;  they  worshiped  God  while 
in  the  midst  of  absorbing^  worldly  en- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  145 

gagements.  One  of  them  is  remark- 
ably gifted  in  prayer;  and  I  once  heard 
the  reason  asked  why  it  was  so  :  he 
was  not  learned  or  fluent  of  speech. 
The  ready  answer  of  one  who  knew  him 
well  was,  that  he  practiced  praying  a 
great  deal,  and  was  therefore  unusually 
fluent.  William  Houx  always  goes  to 
Presbytery  and  Synod,  and  frequently 
to  the  General  Assembly.  No  branch 
of  Christian  duty  suffers  in  his  hands 
for  want  of  attention.  They  both  re- 
side now  in  the  Mount  Hebron  congre- 
gation, twelve  miles  south  of  Lexington. 
The  nucleus  of  this  congregation  was 
furnished  from  Lexington  and  the  old 
Brick  Church.  They  have  an  excellent 
brick  house,  beautifully  located,  and  a 
convenient  parsonage,  with  ten  acres 
of  ground,  for  the  use  of  the  pastor. 
10 


146  AUNT    PEGGY. 

They  are  a  strong  Church,  well  off  in 
the  world's  goods,  and  influential  in  the 
community.  No  congregation  in  this 
State  can  be  more  successfully  appealed 
to  for  benevolent  purposes  than  Mount 
Hebron.  Indeed,  whenever  money  is 
to  be  raised  in  Lexington  Presbytery, 
the  first  place  the  agent  visits  is  this 
Church.  It  is  no  difference  where  the 
charity  is  located,  if  it  is  a  worthy  ob- 
ject— the  pocket-books  of  the  members 
open  instinctively  to  the  call.  It  is 
called  a  "star"  congregation 5  and  long 
may  it  continue  to  deserve  the  compli- 
ment! 

During  the  years  that  we  are  now 
considering,  great  changes  have  occur- 
red in  the  society  of  the  country.  A 
heavy  tide  of  emigration  has  set  in,  and 
the  people  bring  with  them  their  pre- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  147 

viously-formed  religious  opinions,  and 
many  of  them  are  hostile  to  what  is  re- 
garded by  all  Protestant  denominations 
as  orthodox  doctrines.  The  schism  in 
the  Baptist  Church,  caused  by  the  in- 
troduction of  error  through  Alexander 
Campbell  and  his  followers,  has  greatly 
demoralized  that  denomination ;  and 
they  are  themselves,  in  great  measure, 
responsible  for  the  mischief  done,  by 
the  undue  importance  which  they  at- 
tach to  water -baptism,  and  especially 
to  the  mode  by  which  it  is  to  be  per- 
formed. The  converts  from  the  old 
Baptist  Church  to  the  new  theories  of 
Campbell  have  swarmed  into  the  coun- 
try by  the  thousand,  and  have  contrib- 
uted very  greatly  to  retard  the  spread 
of  the  gospel  doctrine  of  repentance, 
faith,  and  regeneration.     Sharp  contro- 


148  AUNT    PEGGY. 

versies  are  frequent  between  these  ad- 
vocates of  the  easy  road  to  heaven  and 
those  still  adhering  to  the  old  paths; 
and,  as  a  consequence,  the  growth  of 
true  piety  is  retarded  among  the  people. 

No  event  worthy  of  special  notice 
occurred  in  the  family  till  the  death  of 
Mr.  Ewing,  on  the  4  th  of  July,  1841, 
at  his  own  home  in  Lexington,  Mis- 
souri. This  event  was  not  unlooked 
for.  During  the  preceding  year,  Mr. 
E.  had  suffered  very  greatly  from  a 
malady  of  long  standing,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  hot  weather  of  summer  he 
was  prostrated  by  another  disease  pecu- 
liar to  the  season,  and  died  as  above 
stated. 

In  anticipation  of  his  approaching 
end,  the  writer  was  called  on  to  pre- 
pare the  last  will  of  the  deceased ;  and 


AUNT    PEGGY.  149 

I  now  recall  with  pleasure,  after  the 
lapse  of  more  than  thirty  years,  the 
precaution  taken  by  Mr.  Ewing  to  pro- 
vide for  the  comfort  of  those  of  his 
servants  who  were  advanced  in  life.  A 
sum  of  money  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  trustees,  to  be  used  only  when  the 
beneficiaries  became  incapable  of  taking 
care  of  themselves.  One  old  man  is  now 
enjoying  the  benefit  of  that  thoughtful 
provision  of  his  old  master. 

Mr.  Ewing  had  begun  to  manumit  his 
slaves  many  years  before  his  death,  and 
in  his  last  will  provided  for  the  full 
freedom  of  all  the  remainder.  I  men- 
tion these  facts  in  this  connection  simply 
because  they  were  among  the  last  acts 
of  his  life,  and  they  are  nowhere  else 
recorded. 


150  AUNT    PEGGY. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

OR  nearly  fifty  years  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ewing  had  walked  side 
by  side,  and  with  mutual  aid 

and  support  had  breasted  the 
storms  of  life,  had  endured  the  trials, 
sorrows,  and  persecutions  incident  to 
their  position.  In  the  dark  and  troub- 
lous period  antecedent  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Church,  all  the  energies  of 
their  natures  were  elicited  to  meet  the 
trying  emergencies  of  the  hour.  They 
had  suffered  together  all  the  anxiety 
and  solicitude  inseparable  from  the 
birth  of  the  infant  Church.  They  had 
prayed    and    labored    together    inces- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  151 

santly  for  the  bantling  born  under  their 
auspices.  They  had  watched  its  devel- 
opment and  rejoiced  in  its  growth  with 
unabated  interest  for  a  third  of  a  cen- 
tury. They  had  assisted  in  its  bap- 
tism, and  nurtured  its  tender  years 
with  prayers  and  tears;  and  they  had 
witnessed  together  its  progress  toward 
athletic  and  vigorous  manhood.  They 
had  gone  up  to  the  house  of  God  and 
worshiped  at  the  same  altar  for  more 
than  the  life -time  of  a  generation. 
They  had  supported  camp -meetings, 
Presbyteries,  and  Synods  for  more 
than  thirty  years.  They  had  labored 
together  to  prepare  and  qualify  for  the 
sacred  office  numerous  candidates  for 
the  holy  ministry,  and  had  reared,  and 
educated,  and  sent  forth  into  the  world 
a  large  family  of  sons  and  daughters. 


152  AUNT    PEGGY. 

They  had  performed  together  all  the 
duties  and  offices  of  parents,  masters, 
neighbors,  and  Church-members,  during 
all  this  long  period.  And  now  they 
had  reached  together  the  margin  of  the 
dark,  cold  river,  and  one  went  over, 
and  the  other  was  left  behind.  What 
innumerable  ties  were  thus  suddenly 
ruptured  and  forever  broken  asunder! 
How  inscrutable  are  thy  ways,  0  Lord ! 
Why  the  husband  should  be  taken  and 
the  wife  left  for  another  thirty  years' 
pilgrimage  alone,  is  the  mysterious 
providence  no  one  can  comprehend. 
The  beneficent  purpose  to  be  accom- 
plished by  this  incomprehensible  dis- 
pensation of  the  Divine  Providence  will 
only  be  unfolded  in  the  great  day. 

No  one  who  has  not  passed  through 
a    similar   ordeal    can    appreciate    the 


AUNT    PEGGY.  153 

depth  of  such  an  affliction  under  such 
peculiar  circumstances.  The  whole 
public  career  of  Mr.  Ewing  was  prac- 
tically a  trial  before  the  high  court  of 
Christendom,  for  the  part  he  had  taken 
in  setting  up  another  Church  organiza- 
tion in  the  country  where  there  were  so 
many  Churches  already.  He  and  those 
associated  with  him  were  subjected  to 
continual  criticism,  generally  unfriendly, 
and  often  virulent  and  vindictive.  The 
wife  of  a  man  thus  situated  could  not 
escape  the  consequences  of  such  an 
ordeal,  even  if  she  would.  It  had, 
therefore,  become  a  part  of  her  daily 
duty,  as  it  seemed  to  her,  to  put  her 
own  shoulders  under  a  part  of  the  bur- 
den. The  responsibilities  of  her  hus- 
band's  position  had  excited  in  her  mind 
unabated  and  inexhaustible  solicitude, 


154  AUNT    PEGGY. 

and  had  caused  the  ties  that  bound  them 
together  to  multiply  and  strengthen  with 
age.  They  had  so  long  fought  the  war- 
fare of  life  together,  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  same  Shield,  guided  by  a 
common  motive,  and  looking  forward  to 
the  same  reward,. that  a  separation,  even 
on  the  margin  of  the  dark  river,  was  an 
overwhelming  shock  to  the  one  left  be- 
hind. It  was  long  a  source  of  perplex- 
ing inquiry  to  Mrs.  Ewing  why  she 
should  be  left  when  her  husband  was 
taken;  but  in  the  course  of  time  she 
bowed  submissively  to  her  Master's 
will,  and  did  not  murmur  or  complain. 
Thus  she  soon  became  reconciled,  and 
took  up  her  solitary  march  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  journey  of  life.  Her 
prayer  was  that  it  might  be  a  short 
journey  and  quickly  performed.     But 


AUNT    PEGGY.  155 

God's  ways  are  not  man's  ways.  Her 
life  was  protracted  for  nearly  thirty 
years  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
and  for  much  of  the  time  through  great 
affliction  and  bodily  suffering. 

The  joint  labor  that  she  had  been  so 
long  accustomed  to  perform  with  her 
husband,  being  now  broken  up  by  a  dis- 
solution of  the  marriage  partnership,  left 
her  in  doubt  for  a  time  as  to  what  av- 
enue of  usefulness  might  be  open  to 
her.  The  household  was  broken  up, 
and  she  could  no  more  take  care  of 
the  young  preachers,  or  spread  her  hos- 
pitable board  for  the  servants  of  her 
divine  Master,  as  they  would  pass  to 
and  fro  through  the  country.  She 
finally  concluded,  however,  that  she 
could  speak  a  word  in  season,  when 
opportunity  offered,  both  for  the  gen- 


156  AUNT    PEGGY. 

eral  cause  of  Christianity  and  her  own 
branch  of  the  Church ;  but,  above  all, 
the  resource  of  prayer  was  left  to  her. 
She  could  make  this  influence  for  good 
as  potent  as  ever;  and  from  that  time 
forward  till  the  day  of  her  death,  she 
never  lost  sight  of  the  great  privilege 
she  enjoyed  of  praying — not  statedly, 
but  very  often  and  on  many  days,  almost 
constantly — to  her  Heavenly  Father, 
first  for  a  large  supply  of  grace  for  her- 
self, and  then  for  her  children,  and  for 
the  Church. 

This  habit  of  prayer  was  one  of  long 
standing  with  her.  It  was  formed  with 
her,  and  her  husband  also,  in  the  early 
days  of  their  life,  when  their  trials  and 
labors  were  hard  to  be  borne,  and  when 
they  both  realized  the  necessity  of  more 
than  mortal  help  in  the  work  in  which 


AUNT    PEGGY.  157 

they  were  engaged.  With  Mr.  Ewing, 
every  thing  of  any  importance  whatever 
became  a  subject  of  prayer.  If  a  jour- 
ney was  to  be  undertaken,  a  member  of 
the  family  sick,  or  any  thing  transpired 
out  of  the  ordinary  daily  course  of 
events,  it  was  always  referred  to  the 
divine  Source  of  all  wisdom  for  guid- 
ance and  assistance. 

Mrs.  Ewing  took  up  her  abode,  from 
time  to  time,  with  different  members  of 
her  family.  She  was  then  in  compar- 
atively good  health,  and  would  take  her 
servant  and  travel  extensively  to  visit 
her  friends  and  relatives.  She  made  an 
extended  visit  to  the  South,  going  into 
several  of  the  States  in  search  of  the 
members  of  her  own  branch  of  the 
Davidson  family.  On  all  these  jour- 
neys she  never  met  with  an  accident, 


158  AUNT    PEGGY. 

or  experienced  any  thing  but  kindness 
from  friends  and  strangers  alike. 

One  whose  life  had  been  so  active 
and  full  of  labor  could  scarcely  be  con- 
tent to  sit  down  in  idleness.  Her  long- 
established  habits  of  industry  would 
allow  of  no  slothful  indulgence  or  ease. 
She  often  expressed  the  opinion  that 
indolence,  or  laziness,  was  a  sin.  She 
never  could  conceive  how  such  a  char- 
acter as  that  could  be  a  Christian. 
There  were  several  persons  of  her  ac- 
quaintance whose  habits  gave  rise  to 
that  expression  of  opinion.  She  could 
not  tolerate  a  preacher  who  was  not 
actively  employed  in  his  profession. 
She  had  seen  so  much  of  the  labor  and 
self-sacrifice  done  by  the  early  preach- 
ers of  the  Church,  that  she  had  no 
patience   with   a    minister  who   would 


AUNT    PEGGY.  159 

preach  only  when  all  the  conditions 
about  him  were  favorable.  Her  theory 
was,  that  those  who  professed  to  be 
called  to  that  high  office,  ought  to  seek 
and  find  his  field  of  labor,  and  not  "wait 
for  something  to  turn  up,"  Micawber- 
like,  before  he  would  embark  in  his  work. 
Notwithstanding  she  had  no  house- 
hold to  work  for,  she  was  always  doing 
something  for  others.  Her  grandchil- 
dren claimed  a  great  deal  of  her  loving 
attention.  Some  poor,  needy  preacher 
was  frequently  the  object  of  her  kindly 
solicitude;  and  any  aid,  by  her  own  work 
or  by  other  means  in  her  power,  that 
she  could  afford  to  him,  was  cordially 
rendered.  The  benevolence  of  her  dis- 
position was  not  now  exhibited  for  the 
first  time :  it  was  a  leading  feature  of 
her  character  throughout  her  long  life. 


160  AUNT    PEGGY. 

We  have  alread}^  alluded  to  the  l^ome 
which  she  gratuitously  furnished  to  the 
numerous  young  preachers  who  were 
about  the  house  for  nearly  thirty  years. 
No  characteristic  of  her  life  stands  out 
more  prominently  and  attractively  than 
that  of  her  unselfish  desire  for  the  hap- 
piness of  others. 

I  have  frequently  heard  the  unfilial 
and  unchristian  remark  made  by  chil- 
dren in  reference  to  their  aged  parents, 
that  they  had  outlived  their  usefulness. 
Good  Christian  people  never  outlive 
their  days  of  usefulness.  The  prayers 
and  example  of  a  pious  parent  are  of 
infinite  value  to  her  family  and  friends, 
and  to  the  community  generally.  They 
are  the  true  salt  of  the  earth.  It  is 
the  history  of  the  aged  Christian  that 
demonstrates  the  true  value  of  religion. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  161 

The  young  Christian  may  fail  in  his 
course,  may  yield  to  temptation,  and 
thus  bring  reproach  upon  the  cause  of 
religion;  but  the  venerable  patriarch, 
who  has  borne  his  Christian  honor  un- 
tarnished through  the  thousand  tempta- 
tions of  a  long  life — who  has  been 
victorious  in  every  battle  with  the  arch- 
enemy of  souls  —  who  has  illustrated 
the  truth  of  his  profession  by  a  godly 
walk  and  pious  conversation,  through 
the  years  of  trial,  and  labor,  and  hard-, 
ship — this  character  proves,  by  the  cer- 
tain light  of  his  long,  well-spent  life, 
that  there  is  a  blessed  reality  in  the 
Christian  religion  which  he  professes. 

When  we  consider  the  period  of  life 

of  any  aged  Christian  who  is  no  longer 

able,  by  reason  of  physical  infirmity,  to 

labor  actively  in  the  general  cause  of 

11 


162  AUNT    PEGGY. 

religion,  "we  must  not  therefore  conclude 
that  his  usefulness  is  ended.  The  riper 
the  Christian  character,  the  broader  and 
more  mellow  the  Christian  benevolence; 
the  more  fervent  the  devotion,  the 
stronger  the  faith,  and  the  more  benefi- 
cent the  influence  that  results  from  this 
condition.  In  regard  to  the  subject  of 
this  memoir,  I  can  assert  with  confidence 
that,  during  the  last  years  of  her  life, 
long  after  she  became  unable  to  leave 
her  room,  the  foregoing  sentiments  were 
demonstrated  by  her  every  day. 

In  this  connection,  I  extract  from  Dr. 
Cossitt's  "  Life  and  Times  of  Eev.  Finis 
Ewing"  again,  as  furnishing  his  impres- 
sions from  a  personal  visit  to  Mrs.  Ew- 
ing when  she  had  become  far  advanced 
in  life : 

"The   writer  visited   this  venerable 


AUNT    PEGGY.  163 

lady  in  the  summer  of  1848,  and  her 
numerous  religious  friends  and  admiring 
acquaintances  will  expect  to  hear  some- 
thing concerning  her  spiritual  state  and 
prospects  in  her  advanced  age. 

"  Mrs.  Ewing  was  then  in  her  sev- 
enty-sixth year,  but  retained  in  a  re- 
markable degree  her  native  vigor  of 
intellect.  She  considered  herself  a  mir- 
acle of  the  grace  and  mercy  of  God, 
who,  through  the  instrumentality  of  one 
of  his  faithful  servants,  had  brought  her 
to  abandon  a  dangerous  error  and  em- 
brace the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  Her 
heart  seemed  full  of  gratitude  to  God 
that  she  had  been  permitted  to  witness 
the  glorious  revival  of  1800  and  its 
no  less  glorious  results,  something  of 
which  she  could  see  and  hear  every 
day,  and  that  she  had  been  united  with 


f 

164  AUNT    PEGGY. 

one  who  lived  only  to  labor  for  God  and 
our  fallen  race,  and  who  afforded  her  so 
many  opportunities  of  doing  what  she 
could  in  her  humble  sphere  for  the  same 
precious  cause.  '  I  can  do  nothing  now,' 
she  said  ;  '  but  it  is  still  my  privilege  to 
pray  for  the  Church ;  and  for  this  I  may 
have  been  so  long  spared.'  Though  her 
husband  had  been  much  from  home,  en- 
gaged in  the  service  of  the  Church,  she 
praised  her  Heavenly  Father's  goodness 
that  no  adverse  providence-,  no  disas- 
trous event,  no  domestic  affliction,  had 
ever  occurred  in  his  absence.  It  was 
matter  of  great  joy  to  her  that,  with 
the  exception  of  two,  all  her  children 
had  professed  the  faith  of  the  gospel; 
and  she  seemed  to  exercise  strong  faith 
that  God,  in  answer  to  the  many  pray- 
ers of  which  they  had  been  the  subjects, 


AUNT  r  E  G  G  y.  165 

would  convert  those  two  unbelieving 
ones.  ^All  the  days  of  my  appointed 
time  will  I  wait  till  my  change  come/ 
said  she;  Hhen  shall  I  leave  this  world 
of  sin,  sorrow,  toil,  and  pain,  and  go  to 
my  home  in  heaven,  where  I  shall  see 
my  Saviour  as  he  is,  and  be  like  him.' 
One  who  was  present  asked,  '  Do  you 
not  anticipate  a  joyful  meeting  with 
those  loved  ones  who  have  gone  be- 
fore?' Her  answer  w^as,  ^Oyes;  and 
it  Avill  be  joyful,  but  nothing  like  seeing 
my  precious  Saviour.  Without  him, 
heaven  would  be  no  heaven  to  me.' " 

These  extracts  will  show  very  clearly 
that  as  she  glided  on  down  the  stream 
of  time,  her  faith  grew  stronger  and 
stronger,  her  confidence  never  abated, 
and  her  anticipations  of  the  reward  that 
awaited  her  beyond  the  grave  filled  her 


166  AUNT    PEGGY. 

heart  with  joy  unspeakable.  The  long 
years  of  painful  affliction  through  which 
she  was  called  to  pass  were  a  fiery  or- 
deal, but  they  purified  her  spirit  and 
qualified  it  for  the  heavenly  state  to 
which  she  was  now  drawing  nigh.  '^All 
the  days  of  my  appointed  time  will  I 
wait,"  was  frequently  repeated  by  her 
during  this  long  period  of  affliction; 
and  patience  and  resignation  followed 
naturally  from  this  condition  of  mind. 
And  so  on  down  to  the  end  did  she 
pursue  her  earthly  journey. 

As  corroborating  the  sentiments  ex- 
pressed by  Mrs.  Ewing  in  the  conversa- 
tion with  Dr.  Cossitt,  I  introduce  in 
this  connection  a  matter  recently  re- 
lated to  me  by  Rev.  W.  B.  Farr,  one 
of  the  devoted  ministers  of  our  Church 
in  Missouri.     Many  years  after  the  in- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  167 

terview  with  Dr.  Cossitt,  above  referred 
to,  Mr.  Farr,  with  his  fjimil}^,  called  to 
pay  his  respects  to  Mrs.  Ewing.  After 
a  long  conversation  on  various  religious 
subjects,  and  after  she  had  repeatedly 
said  that  she  was  often  afraid  that  she 
did  wrong  in  becoming  so  impatient  in 
her  anxiety  to  leave  the  world  and  go 
up  to  her  home  in  heaven,  Mr.  F.  asked 
her  what  was  her  chief  motive  for  wish- 
ing to  leave  the  world — was  it  to  get 
release  from  her  afflictions  >and  personal 
discomforts,  or  to  meet  her  friends  in 
the  better  land?  Her  answer  was  to 
the  same  purport  as  given  to  Dr.  Cos- 
sitt nearly  twenty  years  before,  and 
that  was,  that  to  be  released  from  per- 
sonal afflictions  and  to  see  her  friends 
who  had  preceded  her  to  their  heavenly 
home,  were   minor  considerations  alto- 


168  AUNT    PEGGY. 

gether ;  that  the  great  controlling  desire 
of  her  heart  was  to  see  the  Saviour,  to 
be  with  him  and  near  him,  as  bei^g 
the  great  source  of  all  her  hopes  of  hap- 
piness when  she  should  reach  her  final 
home. 

For  many  years  before  her  death,  her 
health  became  very  feeble;  but  her 
strong,  vigorous  intellect  was  scarcely 
impaired  at  all  till  the  very  evening  of 
her  days.  She  read  constantly  religious 
papers  and  books ;  but  a  copy  of  the 
New  Testament,  in  large  print,  lay  on 
her  table  every  day,  and  was  as  regu- 
larly read  as  the  day  came.  On  account 
of  great  deafness  and  disability  for  con- 
versation, her  only  resource  was  in 
reading,  meditation,  and  prayer.  She 
constantly  looked  forward  to  the  day 
of  her  final  release  from  all  bodily  afilic- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  169 

tions  and  earthly  cares  and  disappoint- 
ments. 

She  not  only  anticipated  tliis  event, 
but  actually  longpd  for  it.  The  only 
impatience  she  almost  ever  exhibited 
in  these  her  last  days  was  at  what 
seemed  to  her  the  unaccountable  delay 
of  the  final  messenger.  But  no  condi- 
tion of  bodily  pain,  or  other  source  of 
anxiety,  could  for  a  moment  darken 
the  glad  prospect  of  a  reiinion  with  her 
family  and  friends  beyond  the  river 
and  on  the  beautiful  shore  of  the  bet- 
ter land.  Her  faith  on  this  score  never 
faltered  —  it  had  become  permanently 
strons^  and  buovant. 

And  but  for  that  faith  and  the  hope 
that  follows,  her  life  had  been  utterly 
desolate.  0  what  is  there  in  all  the 
world  to  keep  the  aged  and   helpless 


170  AUNT    PEGGY. 

from  sinking  down  into  utter  despair, 
but  the  Christian's  hope  that  casts  out 
its  anchor  beyond  the  dark  chasm  of 
death,  and  takes  fast  hold  upon  the 
banks  of  the  river  of  life,  which  flows 
on  forever  from  the  mercy-seat! 

The  young  may  and  do  live  without 
religion,  but  to  the  old  it  is  a  necessity 
that  nothing  else  under  the  sun  can 
supply.  With  no  staff  to  support  the 
tottering  steps  down  the  declivity  of 
time,  with  no  strong  arm  of  deliver- 
ance, when  the  feet  touch  the  cold  wa- 
ters of  death,  what  can  the  old  man 
do,  but  sink  down  overwhelmed  in  the 
dark  waves  that  pass  over  him,  and 
the  piteous  cry  of  Lost!  lost!  is  heard 
for  the  last  time  and  forever!  God 
help  the  old  people,  for  no  power  short 
of  thine  will  be  sufficient  for  them  in 


AUNT    PEGGY.  171 

the  day  that  hastens  to  meet  them  at 
their  commg! 

From  year  to  year  Mrs.  Ewing  lin- 
gered on,  and  the  final  summons  was 
still  delayed.  Her  prayers  for  her 
children,  and  the  Church,  and  a  wicked 
world,  never  abated.  One  or  two 
members  of  her  own  fiimily  long  claimed 
her  special  intercessions  at  a  throne  of 
grace.  It  was  her  conviction  that  the 
chief  duty  of  her  life  now  was  to  pray 
for  these  and  others  of  her  children. 
The  hope  is  not  without  foundation 
that  all  these  earnest  and  faithful  pray- 
ers have  produced  their  purposed  re- 
sults. 

Amid  all  her  afflictions,  her  spirit 
rarely  became  depressed.  Christian 
resignation  pervaded  all  her  thoughts, 
and  exhibited  itself  in  all  her  conduct 


172  AUNT    PEGGY. 

during  these  sad  years  of  her  life.  A 
calm  serenity,  born  only  of  the  Spirit 
of  air  grace,  came  over  her  life,  and 
her  pathway  on  to  the  end  was 
unobscured  by  a  single  cloud  touching 
her  own  personal  destiny.  A  fliith 
stronger  than  death  surmounted  every 
obstacle  and  smoothed  every  rugged 
place,  and  finally  illumined  the  end  of 
the  road  with  rays  of  heavens  own 
light. 

One  terrible  experience  her  friends 
w^ould  fain  have  spared  her,  if  it  had 
been  possible.  The  war  raged  fiercely 
all  over  that  part  of  the  State  in  which 
she  resided;  many  of  her  relations  and 
friends  were  involved  in  its  conse- 
quences; the  churches  were  closed,  the 
members  scattered  to  the  four  winds, 
the    ministers    ceased   to   preach,   and 


AUNT    PEGGY.  173 

every  thing  seemed  destined  to  an- 
archy and  ruin.  It  afflicted  her  be- 
yond all  conception  to  see  such  demor- 
alization in  the  authorities  of  the  land, 
and  in  the  Churches,  and  among  the 
people.  But  she  survived  this  dreadful 
ordeal,  and  saw  the  country  once  more 
restored  to  peace,  and  the  broken  altars 
of  the  Church  once  more  reestablished. 

During  the  last  years  of  her  life  she 
had  her  home  with  her  son-in-law.  Rev. 
Robert  Sloan;  and,  during  this  period, 
Mr.  Sloan  was  in  declining  health  him- 
self, and  the  two  old  people,  belonging 
to  different  generations,  however,  sat 
down  together  by  the  river-side,  and 
waited  patiently  for  the  final  summons, 
and  it  came  to  both  very  nearly  to- 
gether, though  he  was  called  first. 

It  was  wonderful  with  what  tenacity 


174  AUNT    PEGGY. 

the  frail  body  still  clung  to  its  mortal 
existence. 

The  life  of  Mrs.  Ewing  had  been 
one  of  great  activity  and  uniformity 
of  habit,  and,  in  consequence,  her  con- 
stitution had  become  compact  and  hard- 
ened to  a  degree  that  long  resisted  the 
assaults  of  disease  and  natural  decay. 
Her  naturally  good  physical  organiza- 
tion had  never  been  impaired  by  ex- 
cesses or  dissipation  of  any  kind. 
With  regular  habits,  even  temper,  con- 
stant industry,  and  a  quiet  conscience, 
she  laid  the  foundation  for  a  term  of 
life  that  went  far  beyond  three-score 
years  and  ten. 

It  was  now  nearly  thirty  years  since 
the  death  of  her  husband;  and,  during 
all  these  years,  she  never  neglected  for 
a   day  what  seemed  to   her  the  only 


AUNT    PEGGY.  175 

remaining  duty  of  her  life,  and  that 
was  to  pray  for  her  family  and  for  the 
Church.  Unable  to  do  any  thing  else, 
all  her  ideas  of  duty  seemed  to  concen- 
trate in  this  one  obhgation;  and  she 
performed  it  with  a  faithfulness  and 
singleness  of  purpose  that  has  no  paral- 
lel within  my  observation.  Very  fre- 
quently, during  her  last  years,  she 
would  experience  severe  attacks  of  ill- 
ness, and  every  one  she  hoped  would 
be  the  last,  and  seemed  for  a  moment 
disappointed  when  the  danger  passed, 
and  the  prospect  of  recovery  became 
certain. 

Finally,  on  the  12th  of  December, 
1868,  she  realized  what  had  been  the 
desire  of  her  heart  for  the  last  twenty 
years,  and  her  sanctified  spirit  was  re- 
leased from  the   crumbling  clay  tene- 


176  AUNT    PEGGY. 

ment  which  it  had  inhabited  for  nearly 
an  hundred  years.  She  was  about 
ninety-five  years  old  when  she  died, 
and,  in  her  last  moments,  she  left  the 
most  satisfixctory  evidence  to  her  friends 
that  the  religion  of  her  life  was  all  that 
could  be  desired  in  the  last  supreme 
moment.  There  was  no  mistake  as  to 
the  grounds  of  her  faith  and  the  ob- 
ject of  her  hope.  She  had  built  on 
the  rock  Christ  Jesus,  and  the  storms 
of  life  for  three-quarters  of  a  century 
had  beat  upon  the  house,  and  it  fell  not, 
because  it  was  founded  upon  the  Rock, 
and  even  in  death  it  was  not  shaken. 
A  remarkable  and  interesting  fact  was 
exhibited  just  before  she  breathed  her 
last. 

For  many  years  before  her  death,  Mrs. 
Ewing  had  become  very  deaf;  so  much 


AUNT    PEGGY.  '     177 

SO,  that  the  only  means  of  communica- 
tion with  her  was  by  writing  on  a 
shite.  A  few  minutes  before  her  final 
departure,  her  old  and  wrinkled  ffice, 
upon  which  time  had  written  with  iron 
fingers  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  be- 
came smooth  and  fair — became,  as  it 
were,  rejuveifated  and  glorified  —  her 
deaf  ears  were  unstopped,  and  she  con- 
versed freely  with  her  friends,  hearing 
distinctly  every  word  they  uttered. 

It  was  not  merely  a  calm  and  peace- 
ful death,  but  it  was  a  triumphant 
one.  It  was  a  signal  victory  over  the 
last  enemy.  And  thus  qualified  and 
equipped  for  her  heavenly  journey, 
she  swept  through  the  gates  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  all  washed  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  It  was  a  fitting 
close  of  the  battle  of  life  that  had  been 
12 


178 


AUNT    PEGGY. 


SO  long  waged  against  sin,  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  wicked  one,  and  the  weak- 
ness and  infirmities  of  the  flesh. 

To  conquer  in  death  is  the  great  mys- 
tery of  the  Christian  rehgion ;  and  but 
for  the  death  of  the  Saviour,  no  such 
anomalous  fact  would  ever  have  been 
presented  by  dying  man. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  179 


^3^ 


CHAPTER    XII. 

;S>N  reviewing  the  life  of  Mrs. 
Ewing,  among  other  conclusions, 
the  following  may  be  stated : 
Her  lot  in  life  demanded  great 
labor,  toil,  and  self-sacrifice;  and  we 
have  found  that  all  these  were  be- 
stowed, liberally  and  willingly. 

Benevolence  of  character — to  work 
for  others,  to  promote  their  happiness 
and  welfare,  without  expectation  of  re- 
w^ard — was  a  prominent  characteristic. 

Great  honesty  and  sincerity  in  all  her 
dealings  with  herself  and  others  were 
manifest.  She  would  not  deceive  her- 
self, and  could  not  mislead  others. 


180  AUNT    PEGGY. 

Singleness  of  purpose  in  every  thing 
comprehended  within  the  limits  of  Chris- 
tian duty  she  exhibited.  fJhe  held  her 
eyes  fixed  upon  her  duty,  as  she  under- 
stood it,  and  nothing  could  divert  her 
mind  from  it. 

Fidelity  to  all  her  obigations,  per- 
sonal, domestic,  and  public,  she  main- 
tained. If  there  ever  was  a  serious  or 
long-continued  failure  in  any  of  these 
duties,  it  has  not  come  within  my  knowl- 
edge. 

She  was  eminently  devoted  to  the 
duty  of  prayer.  In  all  conditions  of 
life,  and  whatever  varying  circumstances 
she  may  have  experienced,  daily  and 
almost  hourly  prayer  was  her  practice, 
and  that  was  the  chief  source  of  her 
pleasures  and  consolations. 

Great  love  for  her  Church  and  for  all 


AUNT    PEGGY.  181 

good  men  and  women  she  felt  and  culti- 
vated. Her  Christian  charity  was  as 
broad  as  the  human  race. 

And  in  the  matter  of  her  labors  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Church,  directly  and 
indirectly,  I  feel  safe  in  challenging  a 
brighter  experience  in  the  life  of  any 
woman  of  the  denomination  who  has 
lived  through  the  same  period  of  time. 
Whatever  of  results  may  have  followed 
tlrese  labors,  no  estimate  can  now  be 
made.  Her  work  has  been  finished, 
and  the  record  thereof  has  been  made 
in  the  courts  on  high — the  judgment 
thereon  will  be  rendered  at  the  last 
day.  What  shall  be  the  character  of 
that  judgment  we  may  very  well  appre- 
hend from  the  nature  of  the  work  itself. 
To  that  august  tribunal  it  is  now  finally 
remitted. 


182  AUNT    PEGGY. 

The  lessons  that  may  be  legitimately 
drawn  from  the  developments  that  we 
have  seen  in  the  life  of  Mrs.  Ewing  are 
mainly  addressed  to  those  of  her  own 
sex.  Some  of  these  lessons  may  be 
briefly  stated  as  folloAvs  :  That  in  the 
matter  of  simple  means  of  usefulness,  the 
sphere  of  woman  is  not  limited,  and  that 
there  are  a  thousand  avenues  open  to 
her  through  which  she  may  send  forth  a 
healthy  and  salutary  influence  for  good ; 
that  consecration  and  devotion  to  duty 
are  needed,  rather  than  an  enlargement 
of  w^oman's  sphere ;  that  faithfulness  to 
given,  specific  duties  will  always  be 
crowned  with  important  results ;  that  it 
is  preeminently  within  the  prerogative 
of  those  who  become  the  wives  of  min- 
isters of  the  gospel  to  give  tone  and 
character  to   their  ministerial   labors; 


AUNT    PEGGY.  183 

that  eminent  piety  is  compatible  with 
the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the 
most  laborious  life ;  and  that,  in  many 
of  the  departments  of  Church  work, 
women  are  more  efficient  than  men. 
These  and  other  lessons  that  may  be 
derived  from  the  foregoing  portraiture 
are  commended  to  the  female  readers  of 
this  little  book  throughout  the  Church. 


184  AUNT    PEGGY. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

"WHAT  a  vast  panorama  passes 
in  review  before  the  eye  that  is 
'^^^  an  hundred  years  old  !  What 
an  infinite  variety  of  objects 
has  passed  under  its  observation !  and 
what  a  world  of  varied  experiences  has 
occurred  in  the  life  of  one  who  has 
reached  that  great  age !  Mrs.  Ewing 
was  born  before  the  Revolutionary  War 
with  Great  Britain.  Her  recollection  of 
the  later  events  of  that  war  were  very 
distinct.  She  retained  a  vivid  impres- 
sion of  the  sorrow  and  desolation  that 
came  to  her  father's  household  when  the 
news  of  his  death  was  received. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  185 

The  bloody  scenes  of  that  long  and 
exhausting  struggle  were  finally  closed. 
The  curtain  of  history,  if  not  of  obliv- 
ion, fell  upon  them  at  last  for  all  time. 
Peace  blessed  the  land  once  more,  and 
Prosperity  poured  out  blessings  from 
her  horn  of  plenty  on  every  hearth- 
stone in  the  country. 

At  that  period  the  populated  portions 
of  the  continent  lay  between  the  Alle- 
ghany Mountains  and  the  Atlantic  coast. 
Now  the  Americanized  Anglo-Saxon  is 
crowding  every  other  race  to  the  very 
extremities  of  the  continent.  The  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  has  demonstrated  a  suffi- 
cient capacity  to  support  half  the  people 
of  the  world.  A  thousand  towns  and 
cities  have  sprung  up  within  the  life- 
time of  a  single  person.  A  great  com- 
merce, soon  to  be  without  a  parallel  in 


186  AUNT    PEGGY. 

histor}'',  has  arisen  out  of  the  industry 
of  the  teeming  millions  who  fill  the 
land.  The  feeble  and  unorganized  colo- 
nies have  developed  into  a  great  and 
powerful  government,  commanding  the 
respect  of  the  civilized  world.  The 
commercial  navy  spreads  its  sails  on 
every  sea,  and  the  flag  of  the  nation 
floats  in  every  harbor  of  the  globe. 
Numbers,  wealth,  and  power  have  su- 
perseded the  few,  feeble,  and  poor. 
Kailroads  sp/ead  out  their  Briarean 
arms  all  over  the  continent,  and  the 
telegraph  girdles  the  globe.  All  these 
great  and  wonderful  events  have  trans- 
pired within  the  life-time  and  recollec- 
tion of  one  person.  What  a  magnificent 
drama  it  is  that  was  produced  and  acted 
within  the  period  of  a  single  life !  Nor 
is  this  all.     The  most  perfect  and  per- 


•    AUNT    PEGGY.  187 

nianent  of  the  forms  of  government 
comprehended  in  the  formula — man 
governing  himself — that  has  come  to 
the  pages  of  history,  has  been  inaugu- 
rated within  the  time  indicated.  How 
long  this  is  to  remain  no  human  wisdom 
can  foretell.  If  the  people  would  all 
become  and  remain  virtuous  and  wise, 
the  Government  would  last  through  all 
time — till  the  "  end  "  should  be  written 
upon  the  final  page  of  the  world's  his- 
tory. But  it  often  happens  that  men, 
in  the  strength  of  an  innate  meanness 
and  a  blind  perverseness,  will  tear  down 
the  very  temples  of  their  safety,  and 
will  ruthlessly  trample  under  foot  every 
safeguard  to  their  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness. There  is  absolute  stability  in 
nothing  under  the  sun  that  has  its  ori- 
gin in  the  works  of  men.     Nothing  but 


188  AUNT    PEGGY. 

the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  will  furnish 
a  history  reaching  from  the  day  of  the 
crucifixion  to  the  day  of  the  final  judg- 
ment. 

But  to  return.  We  have  seen  that 
the  history  of  this  remarkable  and  long- 
extended  experience  commenced  ante- 
rior to  th^  War  of  the  Revolution,  and 
that  the  sad  consequences  of  that  war 
invaded  the  household  of  Mrs.  Ewing. 
The  same  experience  extended  to  and 
through  another  w^ar  with  the  same 
power,  in  which  her  son  was  a  soldier 
and  her  husband  both  soldier  and  chap- 
lain, thus  bringing  to  her  hearth-stone 
«ngain  the  bloody  events  of  history. 
Then  followed  the  long  period  of  peace 
till  the  little  episode  wdth  Mexico,  and 
then  another  long  peace  till  our  own  un- 
fraternal  contest.     I  call  it  our  own  war 


AUNT    PEGGY.  189 

because  it  was  all  our  own.  What  a 
rich  and  abundant  harvest  for  history 
would  such  a  life  and  such  an  experi- 
ence have  afforded,  if  it  had  been  care- 
fully preserved  !  But  Mrs.  Ewing  never 
dreamed  of  contributing  one  iota  to  the 
written  history  of  herself,  or  of  the 
Church  J  or  of  her  times.  No  one  in 
the  Church,  or  out  of  it,  was  less  ambi- 
tious of  notice  or  distinction.  She  was 
naturally  and  religiously  humble  in  all 
her  views  of  herself  and  of  her  flimily. 
But  the  experience  of  Mrs.  Ewing  in 
the  matter  of  religious  history  is  even 
more  remarkable  than  that  which  passed 
through  decade  after  decade  of  national, 
material,  and  political  progress. 

As  already  indicated  in  the  extracts 
taken  from  Dr.  Cossitt's  book,  the  re- 
ligious condition  of  the  western  country, 


190  AUNT    PEGGY. 

at  the  time  Mrs.  E.  came  upon  the  stage 
of  active  life,  finds  apt  and  fitting  ex- 
pression in  the  words  "a  dead  formal- 
ity." There  was  the  form,  hut  not  the 
power,  of  godhness.  Men  found  a  fatal 
security  hy  connection  with  the  Church, 
when  their  hearts  were  strangers  to  par- 
doning grace.  But  all  this  was  finally 
broken  up  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  through 
the  instrumentality  of  a  few  pious  men, 
who  had  long  deplored  the  fatal  calm 
that  had  fallen  upon  the  Church. 

A  narrative  of  the  great  revival  of 
1800  has  been  often  repeated,  but  I 
doubt  very  much  if  its  true  history  has 
ever  been  written — that  is,  if  the  entire 
scope  of  its  influence,  and  the  results 
that  followed,  have  ever  been  fully  com- 
prehended and  accurately  stated  by  any 
who    have   written  upon  the   subject. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  191 

Perhaps  only  the  final  record  of  all 
human  affairs  will  ever  disclose  all  the 
real  facts  that  grew  out  of  that  great 
event  in  religious  history.  At  any  rate, 
as  a  part  of  the  consequences  flowing 
from  this  great  awakening  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  we  see  a  vast  change  in  the 
style  of  preaching  by  all  the  evangelical 
denominations  of  the  country.  There 
is  more  spirituality,  more  fervor  and 
earnestness,  more  eloquence  and  power, 
more  appeals  to  the  conscience  and 
to  the  heart,  and  an  absolute  demand 
upon  the  sinner  to  repent  and  be- 
lieve on  Christ.  The  "glittering  gen- 
eralities" of  the  old  style  have  been 
abandoned.  Men  are,  from  almost  every 
pulpit,  urged  to  act.  There  is  no  lulling 
the  sinner  into  false  security  by  the 
fatal  teaching  that   the  destiny  of  all 


192  AUNT    PEGGY. 

men  beyond  the  grave  is  irreA^ocably 
fixed  by  the  decrees  of  the  Almighty, 
and  that  man  has  nothing  to  do,  and 
can  do  nothing  whereby  his  salvation  is 
to  be  worked  out  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling. If  the  Presbyterian  clergyman 
believes  the  doctrines  of  his  standards, 
he  does  n't  often  preach  them,  as  Dr. 
McKee,  Commissioner  from  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  said  of  himself  in  his 
address  to  our  General  Assembly  at 
Evansville,  Indiana,  in  1872.  The  truth 
is,  they  do  not  and  dare  not  preach  their 
doctrines,  as  laid  down  in  their  stand- 
ards, pure  and  simple. 

It  is  the  writer's  opinion,  however, 
that  this  great  change  in  the  pulpit  per- 
formances of  the  Presbyterian  ministers 
in  the  South  and  West  is  more  immedi- 
ately due  to  the  fact  that  another  class 


AUNT    PEGGY.  193 

of  Presbyterian  preachers  was  every- 
where proclaiming  an  unlimited  atone- 
ment and  free  salvation  for  all  men, 
exposing  with  tremendous  effect  the 
monstrous  and  revolting  doctrine  taught 
in  the  standards  of  the  old  Church.  A 
fair  and  honest  presentation  of  those 
doctrines  would  cause  the  mass  of  the 
people  to  turn  away  with  disgust,  if  not 
with  horror,  from  such  teachings,  and 
thus  would  the  influence  and  power  of 
that  great  denomination  become  limited 
and  broken.  If  the  hyper-Calvinism 
taught  in  the  Presbyterian  standards  is 
scriptural  truth,  then  it  ought  to  be 
preached  from  every  pulpit  in  the  land, 
and  in  the  strongest  terms  our  language 
will  afford.  God's  own  truth  will  never 
operate  to  the  spiritual  injury  of  one 
of  his  creatures.  Men  should  not  hesi- 
13 


194  AUNT    PEGGY.  ^ 

tate  to  declare  it  from  the  house-tops, 
and  on  all  occasions.  No,  this  doctrine 
will  not  bear  to  be  preached  on  all  oc- 
casions, and  therein  it  fails  when  tried 
by  one  of  the  very  best  tests  of  any 
scriptural  truth — that  is,  the  advantage 
to  follow  from  its  widest  dissemina- 
tion. 

I  know  one  Presbyterian  preacher, 
however,  Avho  has  the  boldness  to 
preach  the  true  doctrines  of  his  Church 
standards  occasionallv:  and  the  follow- 
ing  effects  were  produced  by  one  such 
sermon.  Three  very  well-educated, 
intelligent  young  men  heard  the  doc- 
trine of  election  and  predestination 
preached  in  a  very  plain  manner  by 
this  minister.  On  their  return  from 
church  one  evening,  they  called  at  my 
room,  and  their  comments  on  the  doc- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  195 

trines  of  the  sermon  were  to  this  effect : 
that  if  the  preacher  had  promulgated 
the  true  doctrines  of  the  Scriptures, 
then  they  could  have  no  personal 
agency  in  their  salvation — that  if  they 
were  to  be  saved,  they  would  be,  in 
spite  of  themselves ;  and  if  they  were, 
to  be  lost,  they  would  be,  because  God 
had  so  decreed. 

These  impressions  were  the  legiti- 
mate results  of  such  teachings.  So  far 
as  such  influences  should  operate  to 
control  the  conduct  of  these  young 
men,  it  could  only  be  ruinous  and  dis- 
astrous in  the  extreme.  Men  taught 
to  believe  that  they  can  do  nothing  in 
the  matter  of  their  salvation  will  fold 
their  arms,  and  wait  in  fatal  security 
until  they  are  lost  beyond  redemption. 
God  pity  the  man  who  is  lost  under 


196  AUNT    PEGGY. 

the  direct  teachings  and  influences  of 
the  Church  of  Christ! 

By  way  of  farther  illustrating  the 
statement  that  Presbyterians  generally 
do  not  press  these  objectionable  doc- 
trines upon  the  people,  I  quote  an  ex- 
tract from  a  distinguished  literary  and 
theological  writer,  published  many  years 
ago: 

"Even  in  the  dark  period  when  this 
system  (Calvinism)  was  shaped  and 
finished  at  Geneva,  its  advocates  often 
writhed  under  its  weight;  and  we  can- 
not but  deem  it  a  mark  of  the  progress 
of  society  that  Calvinists  are  more  and 
more  troubled  with  the  palpable  repug- 
nance of  their  doctrines  to  God's  na- 
ture, and  accordingly  labor  to  soften 
and  explain  them  until,  in  many  cases, 
the   name   only   is   retained.      If    the 


AUNT    PEGGY.  197 

stern  reformer  of  Geneva  could  lift  up 
his  head  and  hear  the  mitigated  tone 
in  which  some  of  his  professed  follow- 
ers dispense  his  fearful  doctrines,  we 
fear  that  he  could  not  lie  down  in 
peace  until  he  had  poured  out  his  dis- 
pleasure on  their  cowardice  and  degen- 
eracy. He  would  tell  them  with  a 
frown  that  moderate  Calvinism  was  a 
solecism,  a  contradiction  in  terms,  and 
would  bid  them  in  scorn  to  join  their 
real  friend,  Arminius.  Such,  then,  is 
the  power  of  public  opinion  that  naked, 
undisguised  Calvinism  is  not  very  fond 
of  showing  itself." 

The  experience  of  the  subject  of  this 
memoir  was  to  witness  the  general  pro- 
mulgation, from  the  pulpit  of  all  denom- 
inations, of  the  great  fact  in  theology, 
that   the   sacrifice   of  Christ   provided 


198  AUNT    PEGGY. 

salvation  for  all  men.  How  great  a 
change  is  this  from  what  was  the  case 
in  the  beginning  of  this  century!  But 
especial  emphasis  is  placed  on  the  great 
change  that  has  taken  place  within  the 
period  referred  to  in  the  method  of 
conducting  religious  services  and  in  the 
general  style  of  pulpit  performances. 

A  cold,  dry,  dull  sermon  7^eadfYom  the 
pulpit  was  the  style  previous  to  1800. 
Now,  men  freach  everywhere.  I  was 
once  a  student  at  a  Presbyterian  col- 
lege. The  president  was  pastor  of  the 
Church  in  the  town,  and  he  was  a  very 
able  and  excellent  preacher.  He  be- 
lieved in  and  taught  the  spirituality 
of  the  Christian  religion,  that  its  seat 
was  in  the  heart,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
its  Divine  Author.  It  w^as  the  doc- 
trine of  the  new  birth.     On  one  occa- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  199 

sion  the  pastor  commenced  a  pro- 
tracted-meeting. He  preached  with 
great  ability,  but  no  special  results 
were  visible.  He  sent  for  Kev.  Laban 
Jones,  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  min- 
ister, who  lived  in  the  neighborhood. 

Mr.  Jones  was  not  a  very  pleasant 
speaker.  He  had  a  little  impediment 
in  his  speech  that,  on  first  hearing  him, 
made  an  unpleasant  impression.  The 
critical  taste  of  a  college  of  educated 
young  men  was  not  satisfied  at  first, 
but  before  many  meetings  had  passed 
they  forgot  all  about  his  impediment. 

Dr.  Young  would  preach,  and  Mr. 
Jones  would  follow  in  exhortation  and 
call  for  the  mourners  to  come  forward. 

The  pastor  of  the  Church  and  other 
Presbyterian  ministers  present  cooper- 
ated  heartily  with  Mr.  Jones   in   his 


200  AUNT    PEGGY. 

method  of  conducting  the  exercises  at 
the  altar,  and  the  result  was  a  great 
revival  in  the  college  and  in  the  town. 
This  is  only  one  of  many  instances 
that  have  come  under  the  observation 
of  the  writer  as  to  the  manner  of  con- 
ducting protracted  -  meetings  now  by 
very  many  ministers  of  that  Church. 
I  don't  pretend  to  say  it  is  universal  in 
that  denomination  even  in  the  Western 
country.  One  thing  I  do  say  :  a  great 
change  has  taken  place  in  their  style 
of  preaching  and  of  conducting  their 
meetings — all  of  w^hich  has  followed  as 
a  legitimate  result  from  the  great  re- 
vival of  ISOOj  chiefly  through  the 
agency  of  the  new  denomination  that 
was  organized  at  that  time.  The  means 
by  which  this  agency  was  brought  to 
bear  on  the  minds  of  the  Presbyterian 


AUNT    PEGGY.  201 

clergy  was  chiefly  through  the  public 
sentiment  of  the  country.  Every- 
where that  the  new  preachers  operated 
great  results  followed  their  labors — a 
certain  style  of  preaching  and  a  partic- 
ular method  of  conducting  their  meet- 
ings was  observed  by  everybody  to  be 
followed  with  happy  results. 

Naturally,  and  almost  of  necessity, 
other  preachers  who  labored  in  the 
same  sections  of  country  would  fall 
into  the  same  channel,  and,  in  order  to 
reach  like  results,  would  adopt  similar 
means.  And  just  in  the  ratio  of  the 
change  was  the  degree  of  their  success, 
and  comprehended  in  that  success  was 
tlie  salvation  of  thousands  of  precious 
souls.  This  is  one  of  the  benefits 
brought  to  the  Church  at  large  and 
the  world  by  the  new  denomination. 


202  AUNT    PEGGY. 

Then  the  immediate  results  following 
from  the  establishment  of  a  new  de- 
nomination came  within  the  experience 
of  the  subject  of  this  notice.  From 
small  beginnings  it  grew  to  be  a  great 
matter.  From  three  preachers  it  in- 
creased to  many  hundreds,  and  the  mem- 
bership to  multiplied  thousands.  And 
now  it  is  a  power  for  good  in  all  the 
States,  from  Pennsylvania  to  California. 

In  the  course  of  my  w^anderings  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  I  have  several 
times  stood  upon  the  very  apex  of  that 
great  backbone  of  the  continent.  I 
have  seen  the  small  rivulet  running 
toward  the  east,  which  was  the  source 
of  the  great  Missouri  River;  and  I 
have  also  seen  a  similar  rivulet  flowing 
to  the  west,  which  w\as  the  beginning 
of    the    mighty    Columbia   River.       I 


AUNT    PEGGY.  203 

have  followed  the  course  of  this  rivulet 
toward  the  east,  'and  observed,  from 
time  to  time,  an  accession  to  the  little 
stream  from  some  neighboring  hill-side, 
and  a  little  way  on  another  w^ould 
come  in.  And  so  on,  continually,  un- 
til in  a  broad  and  beautiful  valley  the 
three  rivers — the  Gallatin,  the  Madi- 
son, and  the  Jefferson — flow  together 
and  form  one  great  river,  the  Missouri. 
Thus  I  behold  the  little  Church 
which  sprang  out  of  the  great  moral 
upheaval  of  1800.  At  first,  a  little 
rivulet  of  pure  and  spiritual  piety  finds 
its  way  to  the  surface;  it  winds  its 
course  through  the  valleys  of  moral 
death  and  desolation;  continues  to  run 
on,  and  increases  in  volume  at  each 
stage  of  its  progress ;  a  dead  formalism 
is  broken  up,  and  a  channel  is  made  for 


204  AUNT    PEGGY. 

the  passage  of  the  stream  of  spiritual 
life  that  is  reviving  and  nourishing  the 
Churches,  and  that  is  surmounting 
every  obstacle  in  its  way,  until  the 
happy  confluence  is  reached,  and  the 
three  messengers  of  a  broader  salva- 
tion meet  and  deepen  the  channel  and 
widen  the  banks  of  the  great  river 
which  floats  the  ark  of  universal  salva- 
tion, and  promises  a  living  and  active 
voyage  down  the  bosom  of  the  broad 
current  to  the  wide  but  peaceful  ocean 
of  eternal  blessedness. 

From  the  small  beginning  of  three 
ordained  preachers,  we  have  seen  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  come 
up  in  little  over  half  a  century — within 
the  life-time  of  one  person — to  over  a 
hundred  Presbyteries,  with  twelve  or 
fifteen  hundred  living  ministers,  and  a 


AUNT    PEGGY.  205 

membership  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  or  more.  This  estimate  does 
not  include,  of  course,  the  many  hun- 
dreds of  preachers  who  have  finished 
their  work  and  gone  up  to  their  re- 
ward, nor  the  many  thousands  who 
have  died  in  the  triumphs  of  a  living 
faith  as  members  of  this  despised  little 
Church,  nor  the  thousands  of  others 
who  have  been  converted  through  the 
instrumentality  of  this  agency,  and 
who  have  connected  themselves  with 
other  denominations.  Judging  from 
what  has  come  under  my  own  observa- 
tion, this  latter  class  is  very  numerous, 
and  will  continue  to  be  so,  necessarily 
from  the  very  condition  of  things  with 
which  we,  as  a  denomination,  are  sur- 
rounded. 

Then  let  us  re-survey  the  period  of 


206  AUNT    PEGGY. 

the  life  comprehended  in  this  memoir, 
and  see  if  there  be  not  abundant  cause 
for  encouragement.  And  in  making  this 
survey,  we  may  read  a  chapter  in  the 
history  of  civilization  and  government 
that  has  no  parallel  in  all  history.  We 
may  see  that  the  little  tree  that  v;as 
planted  in  the  Valley  of  the  Cumber- 
land has  grown  to  be  a  monarch  of  the 
forest,  overshadowing  an  area  that  em- 
braces the  happy  homes  of  multiplied 
thousands,  stretching  out  its  generous 
arms  in  all  directions,  and  inviting  to  its 
shelter  and  protection  the  fainting  and 
weary  of  all  lands  and  tongues.  As  in 
the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  the  wil- 
derness the  world  may  find  protection 
from  the  scorching  rays  of  the  sun,  so 
under  the  tree  of  free  salvation  may  all 
nations   and   peoples   find   shelter  and 


AUNT    PEGGY.  207 

safety.  We  may  see  the  gathering, 
after  many  days,  of  the  bread  that  was 
cast  in  faith  upon  the  waters.  We  may 
see  the  rich  fruits  that  are  produced  by 
the  labors  of  the  pious  and  faithful  of 
all  orders  and  classes  of  persons,  from 
the  talented  and  gifted  minister  to  the 
humble  and  unpretending  Christian, 
whose  deeds  are  perpetuated  only  in 
the  records  of  the  upper  sanctuary. 
We  may  see  a  thousand  things  to  in- 
spire us  with  courage  and  confidence  in 
the  promises  of  the  gospel.  We  may 
farther  see  that,  in  the  case  of  Mrs. 
Ewing,  we  can  safely  claim  the  fact 
of  an  accomplished  salvation.  If  the 
evidence  afforded  by  the  three-quarters 
of  a  century  that  comprehended  her  re- 
ligious Hfe  is  worth  any  thing — if  the 
great  solemnity  of  a  dying  hour,  when 


208  AUNT    PEGGY. 

all  persons  must  be  honest  with  them- 
selves and  with  their  friends,  will  fur- 
nish any  additional  testimony  to  the 
fact — we  must  conclude  that  there  was 
no  doubt  as  to  the  all-sufficiency  of  the 
religion  which  she  professed.  I  love  to 
dwell  upon  this  fact,  and  to  draw  conso- 
lation from  it,  that  if  the  blood  of  Christ 
is  sufficient  for  the  final  salvation  of  one 
poor  sinner,  then  it  is  ample  for  the 
whole  human  race ;  and  that  if  he  will 
save  one,  he  may  save  all.  If  there  is 
no  comfort  in  this  interpretation  of  the 
divine  economy,  then  I  shall  fail  to  find 
it  anywhere ;  and  if  there  is  any  antag- 
onism in  the  idea  of  a  possible  salvation 
for  all  to  the  divine  character,  as  re- 
vealed in  his  works  and  in  his  word, 
then  I  have  w^holly  failed  to  see  it. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  209 


CHAPTEPl    XIV. 

'HE  author  cannot  close  this 
hasty  and  desultory  sketch  of 
one  who  was  so  deeply  involved 
in  the  matter  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  without  saying  a  word  in  be- 
half of  that  denomination. 

The  sympathies  of  a  brave  man  are 
always  with  the  weak.  There  is  not  a 
feeling  of  his  nature,  or  a  sentiment  of 
his  heart,  that  will  not  spontaneously 
and  promptly  respond  to  a  call  for  help 
from  the  feeble  and  oppressed.  There 
is  no  merit  in  rendering  assistance  to  a 
strong  arm  that  can  fight  its  own  battles 
14 


210  AUNT    PEGGY. 

and  make  its  own  way  through  the 
world.  A  generous  nature  will  instinct- 
ively hold  out  its  hands  to  a  tottering 
infant  in  its  first  attempts  to  w^alk.  A 
great,  brawny  man  will  scorn  to  receive 
aid,  because  he  can  walk  alone. 

The  circumstances  that  surrounded 
the  early  life,  and  the  conditions  under 
which  they  were  brought  up, '  impose 
special  and  peculiar  obligations  upon 
many  persons.  These  obligations  in- 
volve considerations  of  filial  affection, 
religious  duty,  and  personal  honor. 

Freedom  of  conscience  is  not  abridged 
in  discharging  a  hereditary  duty,  nor  in 
meeting  obligations  that  become  incum- 
bent upon  us,  even  without  our  agency. 
Every  man  is  born  to  a  part  of  his  des- 
tiny, at  least;  the  remainder  he  makes 
for  himself. 


AUNT    PEGGY.  211 

I  have  known  a  few  persons  who 
were  brought  up  m  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  w^ho,  after  they 
had  seen  the  world,  became  ashamed  of 
their  association  with  the  little  band  of 
earnest  Christians  w^ith  wdiich  they  w^ere 
surrounded  in  their  earlier  days.  They 
looked  at  the  Church  from  the  stand- 
point of  a  business  man.  They  com- 
pared it  with  other  old  and  powerful 
denominations,  and  discovered  in  the 
new  Church  a  great  want  of  costly 
church  -  houses  and  the  trappings  of 
wealth  and  power  that  belong  to  the 
rich  and  great ;  and  forthwith  they  did 
violence  to  all  the  obligations  imposed 
by  birth,  education,  early  religious  train- 
ing, and  their  own  views  of  the  doc- 
trinal teachings  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
abandoned  the  friends   of  their  youth 


212  AUNT    PEGGY. 

and  the  young  Church  of  iheiv  fathers, 
and  allied  themselves  with  the  old,  rich, 
and  powerful. 

Christ's  kingdom  is  a  spiritual  one, 
and  all  who  are  members  of  that  king- 
dom are  one  in  him. 

In  the  visible  Church,  the  only  differ- 
ence between  all  true  Christians  is,  that 
they  hold  to  certain  different  interpre- 
tations of  the  Scriptures,  and  worship 
God  in  different  houses,  and,  to  some 
extent,  with  different  formalities.  If  a 
man  is  conscientious,  he  will  give  his  ad- 
herence to  that  formula  of  Christian  faith 
which  he  believes  the  Bible  teaches ; 
and  the  fact  that  those  who  believe  with 
him  do  not  worship  God  in  so  grand  an 
edifice  as  others  do,  should  not  drive 
him  from  their  company.  A  Christian 
man  should  be  true  to  himself  as  well 


AUNT    PEGGY.  213 

as  to  God.  He  should  have  the  manli- 
ness and  the  courage  to  do  whatever 
his  conscientious  convictions  point  out 
as  a  plain  Christian  duty.  A  proud 
Christian  is  an  anomalous  character ; 
it  is  unknown  to  the  Scriptures  and  un- 
recognized by  Christ.  No  true  follower 
of  the  meek  and  lowly  Saviour  can  en- 
tertain that  sentiment  in  his  heart. 
Humility  is  of  the  very  essence  of 
Christianity.  Pride  and  piet}^  are  not 
only  as  unlike  as  day  and  night,  but 
they  are  actually  and  irreconcilably  an- 
tagonistic. The  idea  that  a  man  is  too 
proud  to  worship  God  with  his  poor 
and  humble  fellows-creatures,  is  a  su- 
preme absurdity.  All  the  teachings 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles  make  espe- 
cially prominent  the  idea  that  men  must 
humble  themselves  in  the  very  dust  of 


214  AUNT    PEGGY. 

humility.  Indeed,  there  is  no  assurance 
that  Christ  will  bless  his  followers  in 
any  other  condition.  It  therefore  be- 
hooves all  persons  who  claim  to  be 
Christians  to  examine  themselves  care- 
fully in  reference  to  this  matter  of 
Church  relations,  and  see  how  much 
sinful  pride  has  contributed  to  shape 
their  course  in  that  connection.  Human 
obligations  may  be  shamelessly  ignored, 
but  God  will  have  a  pure  heart  in  the 
services  of  his  own  sanctuary. 

But  is  it  true  that  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  is  a  failure  ?  Let  us 
inquire.  As  a  general  rule,  the  value  of 
any  given  agency  is  determined  by  the 
magnitude  of  the  objects  accomplished 
by  such  agency.  The  Scriptures  teach  us 
that  one  soul  is  worth  more  than  the 
world,  and  it  follows  logically  and  legiti- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  215 

mately  that  any  means  employed  to  bring 
one  sinner  to  repentance  should  be  es- 
teemed a  great  thing.  The  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  has  been  in  exist- 
ence a  little  over  sixty  years.  It  em- 
braces in  its  communion  about  140,000 
members.  Very  nearly  all  of  these  were 
converted  through  the  instrumentalities 
employed  by  that  Church.  We  get  but 
few  members  from  the  religious  meetings 
of  other  denominations,  because  ours  is 
the  youngest  and  weakest  of  them  all; 
and,  by  the  general  law  of  attraction, 
large  bodies  overcome  the  opposing  force 
of  smaller  bodies.  In  this  connection  it 
is  legitimate  to  take  into  the  account  the 
number  of  persons  who  have  died  in  the 
communion  of  the  Church.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  ascertain  this  with  accuracy. 
We  may  also  consider  the  great  number 


216  AUNT    PEGGY. 

of  those  who  have  been  converted 
through  the  instrumentalities  of  the 
Church,  and  who  have  connected  them- 
selves with  other  denominations.  This 
number  is  necessarily  very  large,  for  the 
obvious  reason  that,  for  the  first  twenty 
years  of  the  Church's  existence,  there 
were  but  few  persons  educated  in  the 
faith  of  the  denomination  to  be  brought 
into  the  Church,  and  of  course  our  mem- 
bers were  all  derived  from  the  families 
of  those  who  were  brought  up  under 
other  religious  influences ;  and  of  the 
great  number  who  were  converted  at  our 
meetings,  many,  perhaps  a  majority, 
would  connect  themselves  with  the 
Churches  of  their  fathers.  Every 
Church  in  the  vicinity  of  our  denom- 
inational work  has  reaped  largely  of  the 
fruits  of  our  labor.     From  all  the  data 


AUNT    PEGGY.  217 

before  us,  then,  we  may  safely  say  that 
the  direct  and  positive  results  accom- 
plished by  our  despised  little  Church 
will  approximate  to  a  million  of  persons 
who  owe  their  conversion  to  the  instru- 
mentalities employed  by  our  denomina- 
tion. But  this  estimate  does  not  present 
the  whole  truth  in  this  connection,  if  we 
also  take  into  consideration  all  the  di- 
versified influences  for  good  that  have 
been  originated  and  developed  by  our 
denomination  as  such,  and  by  our  mem- 
bers as  individuals,  and  the  results  of 
which  influences  have  been  profitable  to 
others,  but  scarcely  seen  or  felt  in  this 
Church  at  all.  With  this  meager  and 
imperfect  exhibition  of  the  work  accom- 
plished by  the  Church,  resulting  in  the 
eternal  salvation  of  thousands  and  mul- 
tiplied thousands  of  precious  souls,  I 


218  AUNT    PEGGY. 

challenge  all  men  to  the  task  of  comput- 
ing the  value  to  a  wicked  world  of  the 
agency  that  has  wrought  this  great  work. 
Will  any  man  in  all  Christendom  say  that 
this  work,  accomplished  in  half  a  century, 
and  springing  from  such  small  begin- 
nings, indicates  a  failure  either  in  design 
or  execution?  The  man  who  utters  such 
a  thought  is  willfully  blind  and  wickedly 
ignorant. 

But  it  is  answered  that,  if  this  Church 
had  not  been  organized,  other  existing 
denominations  might  have  accomplished 
all  that  has  been  done  by  us.  Let  us 
see  :  The  means  by  which  any  influence 
is  established,  or  the  avenues  through 
which  it  reaches  the  mind,  are  purely 
accidental.  They  depend  upon  a  thou- 
sand contingencies  that  occur  in  our 
every-day  life,  apparently  without  inten- 


AUNT    PEGGY.  219 

tion  or  design.  Sometimes  a  single  cir- 
cumstance will  give  bent  to  a  man's  in- 
clinations ;  at  other  times  a  combination 
of  circumstances  is  necessary  to  reach 
him  effectually.  The  families  and  com- 
munities that  grew  up  under  the  new 
stimulus  given  to  religious  faith  and 
practice  by  the  new  denomination,  be- 
yond all  question  acquired  a  degree  and 
character  of  influence  over  each  other, 
and  upon  those  with  whom  they  were 
surrounded,  that  no  other  conditions  of 
religious  society  then  existing  could  pos- 
sibly have  exercised. 

The  promulgation  of  a  new  religious 
formula,  especially  if  it  passes  success- 
fully the  ordeal  of  the  severest  criti- 
cism, will  attract  the  attention  and 
command  the  respect  of  great  numbers 
of    thinking  men  who  have  lived  un- 


220  AUNT    PEGGY. 

affected  and  uninterested  for  years  un- 
der the  religious  influences  of  the  old 
denominations.  Thousands  of  persons, 
when  first  made  acquainted  with  the 
great  central  idea  of  our  denominational 
theology  (to-wit,  a  possible  salvation 
for  all  men  and  security  to  the  peni- 
tent believer  in  Christ),  were  ready  to 
embrace  it  at  once — to  take  the  truth 
to  their  hearts,  repent  of  their  sins, 
and  be  converted  to  Christ.  The  elimi- 
nation of  that  great  thought  from  the 
theological  rubbish  that  filled  the  minds 
of  men,  w\as  of  itself  the  means  of 
emancipating  thousands  of  minds  from 
doubt  and  distress  on  the  subject  of 
religion.  The  new  phase  thus  given 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  attracted 
many  to  their  embrace  who  had  been  be- 
fore repelled  by  the  old  theologies.    The 


AUNT    PEGGY.  221 

neWj  living  thought  thus  set  loose,  the 
new  beauties  thus  exhibited  in  the  re- 
ligion of  Christ,  the  new  ideas  elicited  in 
doctrinal  discussion,  the  new  views  thus 
brought  out  in  relation  to  the  extent  and 
efficacy  of  the  atonement,  each  and  all 
contributed  to  establish  new  influences 
whereby  men  were  brought  to  a  knowd- 
edge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

Now,  consider  for  a  moment  the  va- 
riety and  extent  of  these  new  influ- 
ences ;  and  then  consider  the  infinite 
combinations  of  which  these  same  are 
susceptible,  and  which  will  certainly 
spring  out  of  the  multifarious  pursuits 
and  associations  of  men;  and  then  at- 
tempt to  estimate  the  number  of  per- 
sons who  will  be  reached  under  all 
these  various  conditions,  and  ultimately 
be  brought  to  Christ  through  these  agen- 


222  AUNT    PEGGY. 

cies  who  otherwise  would  go  on  down  to 
death  unafFected  and  unobstructed. 

I  might  follow  these  thoughts  into  a 
thousand  details,  but  the  space  I  have  al- 
lotted myself  will  not  allow  it.  I  have  to 
say,  in  conclusion,  that  the  man  who 
says  that  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  is  a  failure,  or  that  it  has  accom- 
plished its  mission,  is  grossly  ignorant, 
and  is  incapable  of  reaching  a  clear  con- 
clusion by  a  broad  and  open  road,  as  he 
wickedly  misstates  the  plain  facts  of  his- 
tory. With  all  the  denominations  in  the 
land,  and  with  all  the  diversified  influ- 
ences which  they  can  employ,  compar- 
atively but  few  men  become  Christians 
— the  world  still  lies  in  wickedness, 
and  sinners  daily  crowd  the  road  to 
death.  Tell  me  not  that  any  Church  or- 
ganization is  a  failure  that  has  brought 


AUNT    PEGGY.  223 

even  one  soul  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  God  employs  no  agencies  for 
the  promotion  of  his  cause  that  are  not 
consonant  with  his  will ;  and  when  he 
does  greatly  bless  and  prosper  a  given 
class  of  means  for  the  promotion  of  his 
OAvn  glory  and  the  salvation  of  sinners, 
we  may  be  satisfied  that  it  is  all  right, 
and  go  forward,  each  to  his  own  work. 

The  .only  apology  that  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church  now  needs 
is :  that  she  has  accomplished  so  little 
considering  the  means  in  her  hands ; 
that  her  energies  have  not  been  fully 
developed,  nor  adequately  employed; 
that  she  has  suffered  herself  to  become 
a  pigmy  upon  a  pyramid  of  power; 
Avhereas  she  might  have  put  on  the 
royal  habiliments  of  the  giant,  and 
shaken  the  earth  under  her  tread. 


224  AUNT    PEGGY. 

No;  her  work  has  not  been  a  faiUire, 
but  a  magnificent  and  glorious  success. 
Let  her  fifteen  hundred  ministers  fling 
to  the  breeze  the  banner  of  the  cross, 
and,  with  the  tens  of  thousands  of  her 
membership,  go  forward  to  the  contest. 
Let  them  recognize  the  common  enemy 
wherever  found,  and  offer  battle  on  every 
plain.  Let  them  plant  their  standards  on 
every  hill-top,  and  hurl  defiance  in  the 
face  of  every  foe.  And  thus  shall  they 
continue  to  vindicate  our  beloved  Church 
before  Christendom  and  the  world,  and  be- 
fore the  great  Head  of  the  Church  himself. 


THE    END. 


938.21 


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5/J/771E  DO  Ivor 
mTOCOPY 


